LIBEAEY 

OF   THE 

Theological   Seminary 

PRINCETON,    N.  J. 


BX  9225  .W35  H39  1851 
Hay,  James,  1770-1849. 
Memoir  of  the  Rev.  Alexande 
Waugh,  D.D. 


M EMOI R 


REV  ALEXANDER  WAUGH,  D.D. 


WITH    SELECTIONS 


FROM  HIS  EPISTOLARY  CORRESPONDENCE. 


BY    THE 

REV.   JAMES   HAY,   D.D. 

AND    THE    LATE 

REV.    HENRY   BELFRAGE,    D.D. 


"The  Law  of  Truth  was  in  his  mouth,  and  iniquity  was  not  found  in  his  lips:    Ho 
walked  with  me  in  peace  and  equity,  and  did  turn  many  away  from  iniquity." 


NEW  YORK: 
ROBERT  CARTER  &  BROTHERS, 

No.     28  5    BROADWAY. 

1851. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

FREFACE    TO    THE    FIRST    EDITION, VH 

PREFACE    TO    THE    SECOND    EDITION, viil 

PREFACE    TO    THE    THIRD    EDITION, ix 

LINES    TO    THE    MEMORY    OF    DR.  WAUGH XI 


CHAPTER    I. 


EARLY    LIFE    OF    DR.  WAUGH. 


Parentage  of  Alexander  Waugh.  Character  and  mode  of  life  of 
Scottish  husbandmen  of  olden  times.  Change  of  manners.  His 
parents  and  their  family.  Education  of  Alexander  for  the 
ministry.  His  early  days.  Earlstoun.  Parochial  schools. 
Stitchell.  Rev.  George  Coventry.  Course  of  University  edu- 
cation prescribed  by  the  Secession  Church.  Prosecution  of  his 
studies  at  Edinburgh — at  Haddington,  under  the  Rev.  John 
Brown — and  at  Aberdeen,  under  Doctors  Campbell  and  Beattie. 
Misgivings  respecting  his  fitness  for  the  ministry.  Receives 
bcense,  and  proves  highly  acceptable  as  a  preacher.  Rise  of 
Wells  Street  congregation,  London.  Rev.  Arch.  Hall.  Ordina- 
tion and  settlement  of  Mr.  Waugh  at  Newtown.  Competing 
calls  from  London  and  Edinburgh,  and  his  final  appointment  to 
the  charge  of  tlie  Wells  Street  congregation,       .         .        .        .13 


IV  CONTENTS, 


HIS    MINISTRY    IN    WELLS    STREET. 

PAGE 

Mr.  "Waugh's  ministry  in  London.  Visit  to  Scotland  in  1783. 
Private  diary.  His  marriage.  Ordination  of  Rev.  Alexander 
Easton.  Intercourse  with  Rev.  John  Newton.  Deliverance 
from  danger  at  sea.  Address  to  the  congregation  on  his  illness. 
Visit  to  Scotland  in  1806,  for  recovery  of  health.  Memorial  on 
the  Psalmody.  Congregational  addresses.  Accident  at  Clapton, 
in  1823.  Increasing  infirmities.  Letters  to  old  friends — youth- 
ful reminiscences.  Letters  from  Harrowgate.  Funeral  sermon 
on  Rev.  Dr.  Bogue.  Delight  in  ministerial  duties.  Kindness 
and  liberality  of  his  congregation.  Correspondence  respecting 
an  assistant.  His  last  public  services.  Character  of  his  public 
ministrations.  His  lectures  in  Fetter  Lane,  &c.  Congregational 
labors.  Anecdote.  Non -interference  in  church  secularities. 
Christian  liberality, 86 


CHAPTER   III. 


HTS    CONNECTION    WITH    PUBLIC    INSTITUTIONS. 

Remarks  on  associations  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel.  Dr.  Bogue's 
appeaL  Co-operation  of  Dr.  Waugh  in  establishing  the  London 
Missionary  Society.  His  sermon  on  the  second  anniversary  of 
that  institution.  Notices  of  its  proceedings,  from  his  corres- 
pondence. Journal  of  his  tour  to  Paris  in  1802.  Missionary 
tours  to  various  parts  of  England  and  Ireland ;  letters.  Inter- 
view with  the  Synod  of  Ulster.  Letters  from  Rev.  Dr.  Baird. 
Tours  in  Scotland  in  1815  and  1819  ;  letters.  Circular  letter 
to  brethren  in  Scotland.  Addresses  to  Missionaries.  Sketches 
of  his  character  as  a  director  and  associate  laborer  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Society.  Connection  with  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society.  Speech  at  the  formation  of  an  auxiliary  asssociation. 
His  support  of  the  Scottish  Hospital,  and  of  other  philanthropic 
and  charitable  institutions.     Anecdotes,      .         .         .  .161 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

HIS   FRIENDSHIPS. 

PAGK 

Extracts  from  his  correspondence,  with  remarks,  viz.,  Letters  to 
a  youth  at  college — to  a  young  friend  in  India — to  another,  an 
emigrant  to  South  Africa — to  a  friend  ordained  to  the  ministry. 
Readiness  to  assist  country  ministers.  Visitation  of  the  dis- 
tressed and  dying — anecdote.  Letters  of  consolation: — to  a 
mother  bereaved  of  her  child — to  a  father  on  the  death  of  an 
only  son — to  a  widowed  mourner — to  the  widow  of  a  deceased 
friend — to  a  friend  on  the  death  of  a  parent — to  a  friend  dis- 
tressed— to  a  friend  dying.  Address  at  the  funeral  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Townsend.  To  a  friend  under  misapprehension  of  his  conduct. 
A  good-humored  hint.  Ordinary  correspondence.  Reminis- 
cences of  early  days.  Miscellaneous  extracts.  Description  of 
natural  scenery.  Advice  to  a  young  lady.  Friendships  with 
the  high  and  the  humble  :  old  John  Ker.  His  general  character 
as  a  friend  and  companion — urbanity — talent  for  anecdote — 
pleasantry — aversion  from  evil  speaking — modesty — letter — 
cheerfulness.     Kindness  to  his  predecessor's  widow,  .         .         .  239 


CHAPTER    V. 

HIS    DOMESTIC    CHARACTER. 

Conjugal  happiness.  Character  as  a  husband.  Letters  to  his 
wife.  Conduct  as  a  fattier.  Letters  to  his  daughters.  Habits 
of  punctuality.  His  son  Alexander:  notice  of  his  death :  letters 
to  him  and  to  his  widow.  Paternal  counsel  to  one  of  his  daugh 
ters  and  her  husband  on  their  marriage,  and  afterwards.  Let 
ters  to  his  daughter  Jeane  Neill,  during  her  illness.  Short 
account  of  her  illness  and  death.  Letters  to  his  sons :  counsel 
to  one  of  them  on  his  entering  the  University.  Family  gather- 
ings. Letter.  Sketch  of  his  domestic  character  and  habits, 
by  one  of  his  daughters :  kindness  to  the  poor — hospitality — 
commission  and  correspondence — strict  sense  of  duty — course 
of  Sabbath  duties — personal  economy — cheerfulness — miscella- 
neous notices.  Sketch  by  one  of  his  sons:  his  nationality — de- 
scription  of  a  tent  preaching — Stitchell  Brae — recollection  of 
earlv  scenes  and  friends— patriotism—  poetical  imagination,  810 


Yl  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

HIS    CONDUCT    IN    AFFLICTION    AND    DEATH. 

PASS 

Submission  and  cheerfulness  in  distress:  letters.  Addresses  to 
his  people  during  his  illness.  Resignation  under  increasing  in- 
firmities and  bereavements.  Anticipations  of  approaching  dis- 
solution; letters.  Last  public  services.  Last  illness.  Death- 
bed scenes.  His  decease.  Resolution  of  Directors  of  London 
Missionary  Society  on  this  event.  His  funeral.  Tributes  to  his 
memory.     Conclusion, 395 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 


The  Memoir  now  presented  to  the  public  was  pro- 
pared  by  two  of  Dr.  Waugh's  friends  resident  in  Scot- 
land. Its  object  is  to  delineate  a  character  richly 
marked  by  the  image  of  Christ,  to  record  the  leading 
incidents  of  a  life  devoted  to  goodness,  and  to  present 
an  example  whose  excellence  demands  that  imitation 
to  which  its  beauty  allures. 

The  facts  detailed  arc  such  as  fell  under  the  obser- 
vation of  the  writers,  or  were  communicated  to  them 
from  respectable  sources.  Among  the  persons  whose 
valuable  communications  have  enriched  this  "Work,  jus- 
tice and  gratitude  require  that  the  Rev.  George  Bur- 
der  of  Fetter  Lane,  the  Rev.  Gteorge  Collison  of 
Hackney,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Morrison,  of  Brompton,  the 
Bev.  Dr.  Philtp  of  the  Cape,  and  A.  Chalmers,  Esq., 
of  London,  should  be  especially  mentioned.  The 
thanks  of  the  compilers  are  also  due  to  Thomas  Prin- 
gle,  Esq.,  Secretary  to  the  Anti-slavery  Society,  not 
only  for  his  able  editorial  superintendence  of  the  Work 
during  its  progress  through  the  press,  but  also  for 
.some  most  judicious  alterations  and  additions,  which 
his  frequent  and  recent  intercourse  with  the  members 
of  Dr.  Waugh's  family  has  enabled  him  to  introduce. 

The  letters  inserted  in  this  Memoir  will  be  found 
peculiarly  interesting,  from  the  views  which  they  give 
of  Divine  truth  and  duty,  the  scenes  they  describe,  the 
incidents  they  detail,  and  the  qualities  of  heart  which 
they  so  delightfully  exhibit.  Other  specimens  of  Dr. 
Waugh's  talent  for  letter- writing,  fully  equal  to  any 
of  these,   could  have    been    given  :    but    that  which 


yiii  PREFACE. 

charms  in  friendship  cannot  in  all  cases  be   rendered 
interesting  or  suitable  for  the  public. 

For  the  deficiencies  of  this  Work  the  candid  will 
find  an  apology  in  the  distance  of  the  writers  from  the 
scenes  of  Dr.  Waugh's  life,  and  in  the  impossibility 
of  doing  full  justice  to  services  so  extensive  and  to 
qualities  so  various.  To  the  good  of  all  parties  it  is 
affectionately  dedicated,  for  he  was  the  common  friend 
of  the  pious  of  every  name  ;  and  at  the  feet  of  that 
Saviour  it  is  laid,  to  whose  grace  their  venerable 
friend  ascribed  so  piously  all  that  he  did  and  all  that 
he  enjoyed,  and  in  whose  service  he  was  faithful  to 
the  death. 

JAMES  HAY,  A.M.,  Kinross. 
HENRY  BELFIIAGE,  D.  D.,  Falkirk. 

Mauch  1,  1830. 


PREFACE  TO  THE    SECOND  EDITION. 

In  presenting  a  Second  Edition  of  this  Work,  the 
writers  cannot  repress  the  expression  of  their  high 
gratification  at  the  favorable  manner  in  which  the 
public  has  been  pleased  to  receive  the  First;  the 
rapid  sale  of  which  evidences  the  deep  interest  felt  by 
the  wise  and  good  in  the  memory  of  Dr.  Waugh,  and 
excites  the  hope  of  the  extending  influence  of  his 
spirit  and  example. 

In  this  Edition  will  be  found  some  additional  let- 
ters and  anecdotes,  illustrative  of  the  combined  cheer- 
fulness and  piety  of  his  character,  and  some  further 
passages  from  his  pulpit  discourses,  exhibiting  more 
fully  the  light,  beauty,  and  fervor  of  his  teachings  as 
;»   master  in  fsrael. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION. 


It  is  gratifying  to  the  surviving  Author  of  this  Me- 
moir, that,  after  two  large  and  high  priced  London 
Editions  have  been  for  some  time  entirely  exhausted, 
a  Third  Edition,  in  consequence  of  an  arrangement 
with  the  present  respectable  Publishers,  is  about  to 
issue  from  the  press  in  Scotland,  Dr.  "Waugh's  native 
and  beloved  land,  where  his  memory  is  still  tenderly 
cherished,  and  to  be  sold  at  such  a  moderate  price,  as 
will  put  it  in  the  power  of  every  class  of  readers  to 
profit  by  that  example  of  fervent  piety,  and  expansive 
benevolence,  for  which  he  was  eminently  conspicuous. 
It  may  be  proper  to  mention  that,  from  the  relinquish- 
ment on  the  part  of  Dr.  Waugh's  family  of  all  pecu- 
niary advantage  in  this  Edition,  it  will  be  sold  at  one 
half  the  price  of  the  former  ones,  though  printed  ver- 
batim from  the  Second,  with  which  they  are  so  well 
satisfied,  that  they  have  agreed  that  nothing  shall  be 
added,  and  nothing  suppressed. 

Although  but  a  few  years  have  elapsed  since  the 
publication  of  the  Second  Edition,  two  highly  re- 
spected individuals  who  took  a  deep  interest  in  the 
preparation  of  the  Work,  are,  alas  !  no  more : — Dr. 
Belfrage,  my  highly  esteemed  fellow-laborer  and  my 
bosom  friend  for  nearly  half  a  century,  who,  by  his 
excellent  and  justly  popular  works,  has  bequeathed  a 
rich  legacy  to  the  religious  public ;  and  Mr.  Thomas 
Pringle,  the  able  and  faithful  superintendent  of  the 
First  Edition,  when  it  passed  through  the  press,  who, 
by  his  Sketches  on  South  Africa,  his  poems,  and  his 
unwearied  exertions  to  break  the  fetters  of  the  slave, 
1* 


x  PREFACE. 

has  gained  an  honorable  name  among  those  benefac- 
tors of  the  human  race,  who  have  distinguished  them- 
selves in  the  great  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
The  present  writer  must  also  soon  close  his  eyes  on 
this  transitory  scene,  and  he  cherishes  the  humble  but 
cheering  hope,  in  regard  to  those  dear  relatives  and 
friends,  in  whose  society  he  has  spent  many  of  his 
sweetest  and  most  profitable  hours,  that  he  will  meet 
them  again  in  that  world  where  death  never  enters, 
and  where  all  the  children  of  the  same  common  fam- 
ily shall  ever  be  with  one  another,  and  ever  with  the 
Lord. 

JAMES  HAY,  D.D. 
Kinross,  December  6, 1838. 


LINES 

TO 

THE  MEMORY  OF  THE  REV.  DR.  WAUGH. 


Whoe'er  thou  art  whose  eye  may  hither  bend, 
If  thou  art  human,  here  behold  a  friend. 
Art  thou  of  Christ's  disciples  ?     He  was  one 
Like  him  whose  bosom  Jesus  leant  upon. 
Art  thou  a  sinner  burthened  with  thy  grief? 
His  life  was  spent  proclaiming  sin's  relief. 
Art  thou  an  unbeliever  ?     He  could  feel 
Much  for  the  patient  whom  he  could  not  heal. 
Whate'er  thy  station,  creed,  condition  be, 
This  man  of  God  has  cared  and  prayed  for  thee. 

Do  riches,  honors,  pleasures,  smile  around  ? 
He  would  have  shown  thee  where  alone  is  found 
Their  true  enjoyment — on  the  Christian  plan 
Of  holiness  to  God  and  love  to  man. 
Are  poverty,  disease,  disgrace,  despair, 
The  ills,  the  anguish  to  which  flesh  is  heir, 
Thy  household  inmates  ?     Yea,  even  such  as  thee 
He  hailed  as  brothers  of  humanity  ; 
And  gave  his  hand  and  heart,  and  toiled  and  plead, 
Till  nakedness  was  clothed  and  hunger  fed  ; 
Till  pain  was  soothed,  and  even  the  fiend  Despair 
Confessed  a  stronger  arm  than  his  was  there. 

And  ye  far  habitants  of  heathen  lands, 
For  you  he  raised  his  voice  and  stretched  his  hands  ; 
And  taught  new-wakened  sympathy  to  start 
With  generous  throb  through  many  a  British  heart ; 
Till  wide  o'er  farthest  oceans  waved  the  sail 
That  bade  in  Jesus'  name  the  nations  hail, 
And  Afric's  wastes  and  wildered  Hindostan 
Heard  the  glad  tidings  of  "  good  will  to  man." 


LINES   TO    THE    MEMORY    OF    DR.   WAUGH. 

Such  was  his  public  ministry.     And  they 
Through  life  who  loved  him  till  his  latest  day, 
Of  many  a  noble,  gentle  trait  can  tell, 
That  as  a  man,  friend,  father,  marked  him  well : 
The  frank  simplicity  ;  the  cordial  flow 
Of  kind  affections ;  the  enthusiast  glow 
That  love  of  Nature  or  his  Native  Land 
Would  kindle  in  those  eyes  so  bright  and  bland ; 
The  unstudied  eloquence,  that  from  his  tongue 
Fell  like  the  fresh  dews  by  the  breezes  flung 
From  fragrant  woodlands  ;  the  benignant  look 
That  like  a  rainbow  beamed  through  his  rebuke — 
Rebuke  more  dreaded  than  a  despot's  frown, 
For  sorrow  more  than  anger  called  it  down ; 
The  winning  way,  the  kindliness  of  speech, 
With  which  he  wont  the  little  ones  to  teach, 
As  round  his  chair  like  clustering  doves  they  clung — 
For,  like  his  Master,  much  he  loved  the  young. 

These,  and  unnumbered  traits  like  these,  my  verse 
Could  fondly  dwell  upon ;  but  o'er  his  hearse 
A  passing  wreath  I  may  but  stop  to  cast, 
Of  love  and  grateful  reverence  the  last 
Poor  earthly  token.     Weeping  mourners  here 
Perchance  may  count  such  frail  memorial  dear, 
Though  vain  and  valueless  it  be  to  him 
Who  tunes  his  golden  harp  amidst  the  seraphim. 

T.  P. 


1827. 


.MEMOIR 

OF   THE 

REV.  ALEXANDER  WAUGH,  D.I). 

CHAPTER   I. 

Parentage  of  Alexander  Waugh.  Character  and  mode  of  life  of  Scot- 
tish husbandmen  of  olden  times.  Change  of  manners.  His  parents 
and  their  family.  Education  of  Alexander  for  the  ministry.  His 
early  days.  Earlstoun.  Parochial  Schools.  Stitchell.  Rev.  George 
Coventry.  Course  of  University  education  prescribed  by  the  Seces- 
sion Church.  Prosecution  of  his  studies  at  Edinburgh — at  Hadding- 
ton, under  the  Rev.  John  Brown — and  at  Aberdeen,  under  Doctors 
Campbell  and  Beattie.  Mi.-givings  respecting  his  fitness  for  the 
ministry.  Receives  license,  and  proves  highly  acceptable  as  a 
preacher.  Rise  of  Wells  Street  congregation,  London.  Rev.  Arch. 
Hall.  Ordination  and  settlement  of  Mr.  Waugh  at  Newtown.  Com- 
peting calls  from  London  and  Edinburgh,  and  his  final  appointment 
to  the  charge  of  the  Yv'ells  Street  congregation. 

Alexander  Waugh  was  born  on  the  10th  of  August,  1754, 
at  East  Gordon,  a  small  village  in  the  parish  of  Gordon,  Ber- 
wickshire. Thomas  Waugh  and  Margaret  Johnstone,  his 
parents,  belonged  to  the  class  of  small  farmers,  who  for  some 
centuries  were  the  cultivators  of  the  soil  throughout  every  part 
of  Scotland ;  and  who,  being  generally  considered  by  their 
landlords  as  the  hereditary  feudatories  of  their  families,  were 
accustomed  to  succeed  each  other  from  father  to  son,  with 
nearly  as  little  variation  as  the  proprietors  themselves. 

This  valuable  order  of  husbandmen,  who  constituted  a  very 
considerable  proportion  of  the  population,  was,  at  this  period, 
of  the  third  generation  in  descent  from  the  Covenanters,  who 


14  SCOTTISH    HUSBANDMEN    OF    OLDEN    TIMES  I 

lived  towards  the  latter  end  of  the  seventeenth  century ;  to 
whom  their  country  owes  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude,  for  their 
pious  zeal,  their  patient  sufferings,  and  their  severe,  long- 
protracted,  and  ultimately  successful  struggle  with  a  despotic 
and  persecuting  government.  Like  their  ancestors,  whose 
memory  they  warmly  cherished  and  venerated,  besides  being 
zealous  Presbyterians,  they  were  distinguished  by  frugal  habits, 
simple  manners,  and  an  ardent  regard  for  evangelical  doctrines. 
In  addition  to  a  regular  and  exemplary  attendance  on  the 
public  ordinances  of  divine  worship,  they  faithfully  performed 
the  exercises  of  devotion  in  their  families,  and  labored  with 
patriarchal  diligence,  to  instil  into  the  minds  of  their  children 
and  domestics  the  principles  of  sound  doctrine  and  a  holy  life. 
The  strict  and  regular  observance  of  the  duties  of  family  reli- 
gion, appears  to  have  been  one  chief  cause  of  the  high  emi- 
nence in  scriptural  knowledge,  in  sobriety  of  manners,  as  well 
as  in  every  domestic  virtue,  for  which  the  northern  part  of 
Great  Britain  was  then  justly  celebrated. 

The  patriarchal  simplicity  of  manners  which,  about  the  mid- 
dle of  last  century,  so  especially  characterized  Scottish  husband- 
men, was  calculated,  in  a  high  degree,  to  foster  deep  affections, 
and  a  sober  but  manly  earnestness  both  of  principle  and  de- 
portment; and  it  maybe  fairly  stated  as  one  of  the  happy 
privileges  of  the  Secession  Church,  that  so  large  a  number  of 
its  ministers  have  sprung  from  this  virtuous  and  valuable  order 
of  men.  On  this  latter  account,  as  well  as  with  a  more  imme- 
diate reference  to  the  subject  of  the  present  memoir,  we  shall 
endeavor  to  give  a  brief  description  of  the  mode  of  life  and 
household  discipline  of  a  Scottish  farmer  of  former  days.  It  is 
a  sketch  from  early  recollections  of  scenes  long  gone  by — 
"  When  old  simplicity  was  yet  in  prime ; 

For  now  among  our  glens  the  faithful  fail, 

Forgetful  of  their  sires  in  olden  time  : 

That  gray -haired  race  is  gone,  of  look  sublime, 

Calm  in  demeanor,  courteous,  and  sincere  ; 

Yet  stern  when  duty  called  them,  as  their  clime, 

When  it  flings  off  the  autumnal  foliage  sere, 
And  shakes  the  shuddering  woods  with  solemn  voice  severe." 


THEIR   MODE    OF    LIFE.  15 

The  habitation  of  a  Scottish  husbandman  in  the  southern 
counties,  sixty  or  seventy  years  ago,  was  generally  a  plain, 
substantial  building,  holding  a  middle  rank  between  the  res- 
idences of  the  inferior  gentry  and  the  humble  cottages  of  the 
laboring  peasantry.  The  farm-house,  with  the  small  win- 
dows of  its  second  story  often  projecting  through  the  thatched 
roof,  occupied,  for  the  most  part,  the  one  side  of  a  quadrangle, 
in  which  the  young  cattle  were  folded  ;  the  other  three  sides 
being  enclosed  and  sheltered  by  the  barns,  stables,  and  other 
farm  offices.  A  kitchen-garden,  stocked  with  the  common 
potherbs  then  in  use,  and  sometimes  with  a  few  fruit-trees, 
extended  on  one  side,  sheltered  perhaps  by  a  'hedge  of  boor- 
tree  or  elder,  and  often  skirted  by  a  few  aged  forest-trees ; 
while  the  low,  thatched  dwellings  of  the  hinds  and  cottars 
stood  at  a  little  distance,  each  with  its  small  cabbage-garden, 
or  kail-yard,  behind,  and  its  stack  of  peat,  or  turf  fuel,  in 
front. 

An  upland  farm,  of  the  common  average  size,  extended  to 
about  four  or  five  hundred  acres,  partly  arable  and  partly 
pastoral,  and  usually  employed  three  or  four  ploughs;  and  the 
master's  household,  exclusive  of  his  own  family,  consisted  of 
six  or  seven  unmarried  servants,  male  and  female.  The  mar- 
ried servants, — namely,  a  head  shepherd,  and  a  hind  or  two 
(as  the  married  ploughmen  were  termed), — occupied  cottages 
apart;  as  likewise  did  the  cottars,  who  were  rather  a  sort  of 
farm  retainers  than  servants,  being  bound  only  to  give  the 
master,  in  lieu  of  rent,  their  services  in  hay-time  and  harvest, 
and  at  other  stated  periods.  The  whole,  however,  especially 
in  remote  situations,  formed  a  sort  of  little  independent  com- 
munity in  themselves,  deriving  their  subsistence  almost  ex- 
clusively from  the  produce  of  the  farm.  The  master's  house- 
hold alone  usually  amounted  to  fifteen  or  twenty  souls ;  and 
the  whole  population  of  the  farm,  or  onstead,  to  double  or 
treble  that  number  ; — a  number  considerably  greater,  perhaps, 
than  will  now  be  commonly  found  on  a  farm  of  the  same  ex- 
tent,— but  maintained  with  much  frugality,  and  always  indus- 
triously occupied,  though  not  oppressed  with  labor. 


16  SCOTTISH    HUSBANDMEN    OF    OLDEN    TIMES  I 

Little  of  the  jealous  distinction  of  ranks  which  now  sub- 
sists between  the  farming  class  and  their  hired  servants,  was 
then  known.  The  connection  between  master  and  servant  had 
less  of  a  commercial  and  mere  of  a  patriarchal  character. 
Every  household  formed  but  one  society.  The  masters  (at 
that  time  generally  a  sober,  virtuous,  and  religious  class) 
extended  a  parental  care  over  their  servants,  and  the  servants 
cherished  a  filial  affection  for  their  masters.  They  sat  to- 
gether, they  ate  together,  they  often  wrought  together;  and 
after  the  labors  of  the  day  were  finished,  they  assembled  to- 
gether around  the  blazing  fire,  in  the  "  farmer's  ha',"  convers- 
ing over  the  occurrences  of  the  day,  the  floating  rumors  of 
the  country,  or  "  auld  warld  stories  ;"  and  not  un  frequently 
relioious  subjects  were  introduced,  or  the  memory  of  godly 
men,  and  of  those  who,  in  evil  times,  had  battled  or  suffered 
for  the  right,  wras  affectionately  commemorated.  This  familiar 
intercourse  was  equally  decorous  as  it  was  kindly, — for  decent 
order  and  due  subordination  were  strictly  maintained.  Tt  was 
the  great  concern  of  masters  and  mistresses,  when  new  servants 
were  required,  to  obtain  such  as  were  of  sober  and  religious 
habits  :  if  any  of  a  different  character  got  in,  his  dismissal,  at 
the  first  term,  was  certain.  Servants  in  those  days  never 
thought  of  changing  masters,  unless  something  occurred  which 
rendered  the  change  indispensable. 

At  ordinary  meals,  the  master  (or  good-man,  as  he  was 
termed)  took  his  seat  at  the  head  of  the  large  hall  table, 
the  mistress  sitting  on  his  right  hand,  the  children  on  his  left, 
the  men-servants  next  in  station,  and  the  maid-servants  at 
the  bottom, — one  of  the  latter  serving.  The  use  of  tea  was 
then  unknown,  except  in  the  houses  of  the  gentry.  Porridge 
was  the  constant  dish  at  breakfast  and  supper  ;  at  dinner  broth 
and  meat,  milk,  cheese,  and  butter.  Twice  in  the  year,  ex- 
clusive of  extraordinary  occasions,  there  was  a  farm  festival,  in 
which  every  inhabitant  of  the  place  partook;  namely,  the 
kirn,  or  harvest-home,  at  the  close  of  autumn,  and  the  cele- 
bration of  the  new  year.  On  these  occasions,  an  abundant 
feast  of  baked  and   boiled  cheered  the  heart  of  the  humblest 


THEIlt    MODE    OF    LIFE.  17 

laborer  on  the  land,  and  was  closed  with  decent  hilarity  by 
a  cheerful  beaker  or  two  of  home-brewed  ale. 

But  the  religious  order  of  the  family  was  the  distinguish- 
ing trait.  The  whole  household  assembled  in  the  hall  (or 
kitchen)  in  the  morning  before  breakfast,  for  family  worship, 
and  in  the  evening  before  supper.  The  good-man,  of  course, 
led  their  devotions,  every  one  having  his  Bible  in  his  hand. 
This  was  the  stated  course  even  in  seed-time  and  harvest : 
between  five  and  six  in  the  morning  was  the  hour  of  prayer  in 
these  busy  seasons. 

On  Sabbath  all  went  to  church,  however  great  the  distance, 
except  one  person,  in  turn,  to  take  care  of  the  house  or  younger 
children,  and  others  to  tend  the  cattle.  After  a  late  dinner, 
on  their  return,  the  family  assembled  around  the  master,  who 
first  catechized  the  children,  and  then  the  servants.  Each  was 
required  to  tell  what  he  remembered  of  the  religious  services 
they  had  joined  in  at  the  house  of  God ;  each  repeated  a  por- 
tion of  the  Shorter  Catechism ;  and  all  were  then  examined  on 
heads  of  divinity,  from  the  mouth  of  the  master.  Throughout 
the  whole  of  the  Sabbath,  all  worldly  concerns,  except  such  as 
necessity  or  mercy  required  to  be  attended  to,  were  strictly 
laid  aside ;  and  nothing  was  allowed  to  enter  into  conversa- 
tion save  subjects  of  religion. 

These  homely  details  may  perhaps  seem,  at  first  sight,  cal- 
culated to  corroborate,  in  some  respects,  the  exaggerated  no- 
tions which  prevail  in  England  respecting  the  religious  auster- 
ity of  the  old  Presbyterians  ;  and  readers,  looking  exclusively 
to  the  strictness  of  their  discipline,  their  alleged  "  proscription 
of  all  amusements,"  the  limited  education,  the  want  of  books, 
and,  above  all,  the  want  of  refinement,  which,  according  to 
our  modern  notions,  might  be  expected  to  be  the  necessary 
result  of  familiar  association  with  menial  servants, — may  pos- 
sibly picture  to  themselves  a  state  of  society  altogether  clown- 
ish, melancholy,  and  monotonous.  Yet  this  would  be  a  very 
false  estimate  of  the  real  character  and  condition  of  the  old 
Scottish  tenantry. 

The  life  of  the  husbandman  and  his  dependants,  iu  those 


18  SCOTTISH    HUSBANDMEN    OF    OLDEN   TIMES  : 

days,  was  so  far  from  being  unenlivened  by  mirth  and  enjoy- 
ment, that  there  was  in  truth  much  more  real  enjoyment  than 
is  now  often  to  be  witnessed.  They  had  more  leisure  to  be 
merry  than  their  descendants,  and  there  was,  in  reality,  no 
proscription  of  innocent  amusements.  Spring  and  autumn 
were  the  only  seasons  that  required  very  arduous  labor  in 
the  old  system  of  husbandry;  and  then  those  seasons  came 
round  with  an  air  of  more  festivity,  had  more  of  a  heart- 
stirring  aspect  about  them,  and  their  toils  were  encountered 
with  a  more  grateful  alacrity,  than  in  our  days  of  regular  ro- 
tations and  improved  machinery.  At  other  seasons  of  the 
year  the  labors  were  comparatively  light.  The  winning  of 
peats  and  hay,  ewe-milking,  sheep-shearing,  the  dairy,  and 
the  tending  of  the  flocks  and  herds,  chiefly  occupied  the  jo- 
cund days  of  summer.  In  winter  their  leisure  was  still 
greater  and  their  enjoyments  not  less  diversified.  Field  sports 
were  eagerly  followed  in  the  intervals  of  labor,  or  when  frost 
and  snow  had  stopped  the  progress  of  the  plough ;  nor  were 
the  peasantry  then  restrained  from  such  hardy  amusements 
by  the  enforcement  of  demoralizing  game-laws.  At  other 
times,  the  grave  good-man  would  toss  down  to  his  sons  and 
servant-lads  the  foot-ball  or  the  kitticat,  and  bid  them  take  a 
bout  to  warm  their  youthful  blood.  And  in  the  long  winter 
evenings,  when  seated  around  the  fire,  harmless  mirth  and 
jocularity  pleasantly  alternated  with  more  serious  and  in- 
structive conversation ;  nor  did  any  puritanical  sourness  for- 
bid the  recitation  of  the  old  romantic  border  ballads  and 
legends,  or  the  singing  of  the  sweet  pastoral  songs,  of 
which  both  the  poetry  and  music  were,  like  the  broom  and 
birch  of  the  braes  around  them,  the  spontaneous  and  unso- 
phisticated growth  of  their  own  beautiful  country.  And  thus, 
with  scarcely  any  books  of  amusement,  without  any  games  of 
chance,  without  stimulating  liquors,  and  without  ever  seeing  a 
newspaper,  our  simple  ancestors  managed  to  beguile  their 
hours  of  leisure  and  relaxation  cheerfully  and  innocently; 
and,  on  the  whole,  perhaps  quite  as  rationally,  if  not  quite 
so  elegantly,  as  their  more  bustling  and  ambitious  offspring. 


THEIR    MODE    OF    LIFE.  19 

Amidst  the  manifold  improvements  of  more  recent  times  (the 
value  of  which,  in  some  respects,  we  are  far  from  denying),  it 
may  yet  be  considered  very  questionable,  whether  all  that 
has  been  abandoned  of  former  manners  has  been  equally  well 
replaced,  and  whether  even  our  progress  in  knowledge  and  re- 
finement has  not  been  but  too  dearly  purchased  by  the  sacrifice 
of  qualities  still  more  valuable. 

This  brief  outline  (for  it  is  nothing  more)  of  a  state  of  ru- 
ral society  which  many  of  our  older  readers  must  have  wit- 
nessed in  their  youth,  though  few  vestiges  of  it  now  remain, 
may  perhaps  to  some  persons  seem  here  unnecessary  or  mis- 
placed ;  but,  besides  our  desire  to  present  to  English  readers  a 
picture,  sketched  from  real  life,  of  the  lovely  simplicity  of  the 
olden  day,  we  think  that  it  will  serve  as  a  key  to  much  of  what 
is  most  interesting  in  the  subject  of  this  memoir;  for  in  a 
household  somewhat  similar  to  the  one  we  have  described,  were 
spent  the  early  days  of  Alexander  Waugh  ;  and  to  the  influ- 
ence of  such  scenes  upon  a  heart  of  no  ordinary  sensibility, 
may  be  fairly  ascribed  many  of  the  most  valuable,  as  well  as 
delightful,  traits  of  his  character. 

Towards  the  latter  end  of  the  last  century,  a  new  state  of 
things  commenced  in  Scotland,  which  has  greatly  changed 
both  its  external  condition  and  the  manners  of  the  people. 
The  introduction  of  manufactures  into  the  towns  and  villages^ 
by  raising  the  price  of  labor,  greatly  ameliorated  the  outward 
circumstances  and  comforts  of  the  operatives;  but  this  sud- 
den flow  of  worldly  prosperity,  accompanied,  as  it  necessarily 
was,  by  the  promiscuous  intercourse  of  numerous  bodies  of 
people  thus  brought  into  close  collision,  and  intermixed  with 
persons  of  doubtful  or  licentious  character,  produced  a  bane- 
ful effect  upon  the  religious  habits  and  good  morals  of 
this  class  of  the  population.  About  the  same  period,  the 
small  farmers  were  almost  entirely  superseded  in  a  number 
of  the  agricultural  counties  by  an  improved  system  of  hus- 
bandry, which,  together  with  a  more  considerable  capital, 
and  greater  economy  of  labor,  required  a  wider  field  of 
operation;    and  which,  by   affording  a  higher  rent,  offered  a 


20  MODERN    CHANGE    OF    MANNERS. 

strong  inducement  to  the  landholders  to  let  out  their  prop- 
erty in  more  extensive  farms.  Many  of  this  new  class  of 
farmers,  who,  by  their  skilful  enterprise,  were  soon  raised  to  a 
state  of  wealth  and  independence,  instead  of  walking  in  the 
steps  of  their  predecessors,  by  regularly  worshipping  God  in 
their  families,  and  cultivating  sober  and  pious  habits,  made 
it  their  chief  ambition  to  imitate  or  outstrip  the  worst  extrav- 
agances of  their  superiors,  by  indulging  in  every  species  of 
luxury  and  dissipation,  of  vice  and  impiety.  And  if  it  be  true, 
that  evil  communications  corrupt  good  morals,  the  examples 
of  such  masters  must  have  been  followed  by  most  injurious 
consequences,  not  only  to  their  own  families,  but  also  to  their 
servants  and  dependants,  and  all  who  came  under  their  in- 
fluence. 

The  bitter  fruits  produced  by  this  new  state  of  things  soon 
began  to  manifest  themselves,  particularly  in  the  neglect  of 
the  duties  of  domestic  devotion,  for  the  observance  of  which 
our  fathers  had  been  eminently  distinguished.  The  great  dis- 
regard of  this  sacred  service,  of  such  vital  importance  for  pre- 
serving the  fear  of  God  in  the  hearts  of  the  rising  generation, 
has  been  accompanied,  step  by  step,  by  scenes  of  profaneness 
and  vice,  which  would  have  caused  the  men  of  a  former  gen- 
eration to  tremble.  Notwithstanding  our  Sabbath-schools,  and 
the  numerous  and  zealous  exertions  made  in  every  part  of  the 
country  to  communicate  salutary  and  useful  instruction  to 
the  young, — exertions  to  which  there  is  nothing  parallel  in  any 
preceding  part  of  our  history, — crimes,  instead  of  being  di- 
minished, appear  to  be  still  on  the  increase  ;  and  the  calendars 
of  our  justiciary  courts  are  stained  by  a  multiplicity  of  daring 
and  enormous  acts  of  wickedness  and  depravity,  committed  by 
young  delinquents. 

In  such  a  discouraging  aspect  of  matters  so  vitally  connected 
with  the  best  interests  of  the  country,  every  pious  and  well- 
constituted  mind  will  be  disposed  to  ask  with  anxious  alarm, 
What  will  the  end  of  these  things  be  ? 

The  following  observations,  by  a  celebrated  divine,  appear 
to   us   deserving   of   most   seriou*   consideration,  and    by   no 


IMPORTANCE    OF    FAMILY    RELIGION.  21 

means  irrelevant  to  the  objects  of  the  present  work  : — "  The 
public  state  of  religion  in  the  world  must  entirely  depend  on 
the  care  bestowed  on  the  cultivation  of  it  in  private  families. 
If  the  nursery  be  neglected,  how  is  it  possible  that  the  plan- 
tation should  prosper?  Such  as  the  families  are  of  which 
congregations,  churches,  and  kingdoms,  are  composed,  such  will 
be  the  nourishing  or  decayed  state  of  religion  in  these  larger 
communities ;  and  consequently  it  is  as  clear  as  noon-day,  that 
the  disregard  shown  to  God  in  our  households  is  the  fatal 
source  of  that  amazing  corruption  of  manners  in  the  present 
age,  which  almost  every  one  pretends  to  lament,  but  almost 
none  sets  himself  in  earnest  to  reform.  Would  you  put  a  stop 
to  abounding  iniquity,  and  promote  the  cause  of  God  and  re- 
ligion, begin  at  home,  and  let  your  Maker  have  that  honor  in 
your  families  to  which  he  is  entitled."* 

The  subject  of  this  memoir  has  left  an  interesting  account 
of  the  moral  worth  and  fervent  piety  of  his  parents  ;  and  it 
gives  us  pleasure  to  remark,  that  in  those  holy  and  auspicious 
days  of  Scottish  history,  there  were  few  towns,  or  villages,  or 
glens,  in  the  lowland  counties,  where  persons  of  similar  charac- 
ter were  not  to  be  found. 

"  My  father  was  an  industrious  and  kind  parent.  He 
was,  I  believe,  an  upright  Christian  before  God,  as  he  was 
confessedly  a  just  and  honest  man  before  the  world.  He 
had  been  nominated  to  be  an  elder  by  Mr.  Bell,  minister  of 
Gordon,  in  the  Established  Church  ;  but  declined  to  accept, 
both  from  the  modest  sense  of  his  inability,  and  from  a  set- 
tled disapprobation  of  the  violent  measures  in  the  planting 
of  ministers  in  vacant  parishes  by  lay  patronage,  which  w7ere 
at  that  time  employed  by  the  ruling  party  in  the  General 
Assembly.  These  sentiments  led  him  to  countenance  the 
public-spirited  steps  of  the  first  ministers  who  stated  a  se- 
cession from  that  ruling  and  overbearing  party.  lie  united 
with  the  congregation  of  Stitchell  and  Morebattle  in  calling 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Hunter  to  be  their  pastor.  Afterwards  ho 
joined  in  the  call  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Coventry  to  be  minister  of 
*  The  Rev.  Robert  Walker  of  Edinburgh. 


_1  DR.    WAUGh's    CHARACTER    OF    HIS    FATHER. 

Stitchell ;    and  continued  to  walk,  to  the   time  of  his  death, 
with   that   church,  in  all  the  ordinances  of  the  Lord  blame- 


:  d  in  his  family  regularly  morning  and 
evening;    and  on  the  L  :amined  his  children  in  re- 

gard to  their  acquaintance  with  ::..     He  took  them, 

whenever  they  i  bo   go   wilh  him,  to  the  house  of 

God,  and    endeavored    to   form    their   minds   to  the  love  of 
verything,  under   God,  to  his    piety  and  af- 
:;<rmer   he  was    led  to  devote  me  to  God  in 
ice  of  his  £  .to  lay  out  a  consid- 

of  his    substance  for  my  education    for  that  ser- 
in addition  to  these  B  short  and  simple  annals,"  extracted 
rivate  diary,    we  may  add,  that    to  the 
habits   of  devotion,    more     particularly,    which    characterized 
I   -   :  :;iers  house,   he   frequently,    in  after-life,  reverted  with 
the  most  lively  1         «a        _  ght.     He   was   wont 

-ed  by  his  father  in 

family  prayer,  and  in  expounding  the  Scriptures  to  his  house- 

fa      . —  _.  on  occasions  of  special  solemnity,  the  hinds 

and  c-:       -       ith    their   assembled  families.     He  mentioned, 

happened  to  be   from  home,  the  family 

-  lis  mother, — as,  at  that   time, 

.  was  the  practice   generally  observed  by  religious  mis- 

■  -   of  families.     Of  the  impressions  made  upon  his  young 

heart'  md   by  other  congenial  scenes 

r.  "vYaugh  would    often  talk  to  his  own 

h  tears  in  his  eyes ;  and  to  the  puri- 

g  onobling  influence  of  such  scenes,  not  a  little 

of  the  a  1  moral  elevation  of  his  own 

character,  may  be   clearly  traced.     The  most  marked  peculi- 

of  his  h  ght  and  feeling  were  evidently 

formed,  at  a  ver  ge,  under   his  father's  hallowed  roof, 

and  in  the  pastoral  seclusion  of  his    native  moorlands.     The 

"um  of  character  (if  we   may  so  e  irselves), — 

at  least  where  it  possesses  any  natural  depth, — is  laid  proba- 


DR.    WAUGIl's    CHARACTER    OF    HIS    MOTHKU.  23 

bly  at  a  much  earlier  period  of  life  than  most  persona  are 
aware  of;  and  though  the  surface  may  he  afterwards  moulded 
and  modified,  as  manners  are  superinduced,  and  the  mind  care- 
fully cultivated,  or  allowed  to  run  to  waste,  "  like  an  unweeded 
garden,"  yet  the  intrinsic  qualities  of  the  intellectual  soil,  and 
the  peculiar  flavor  of  its  fruits,  are,  in  most  cases,  subsequently 
susceptible  of  but  little  substantial  alteration. 

Concerning  his  mother,  Dr.  Waugh  has  left  the  following 
account  : — "  Piety  and  meekness,  and  the  tenderest  regard 
for  the  happiness  of  her  children,  formed  the  outline  of  her 
character.  Born  of  eminently  pious  parents,  Alexander  John- 
stone, farmer  in  East  Gordon,  and  Elizabeth  Waugh,  her 
mind,  at  an  early  period,  was  formed  for  the  love  of  goodness. 
Through  life  she  maintained  the  character  of  a  godly,  modest, 
and  inoffensive  woman.  Her  devotions  were  regular  and 
fervent:  the  law  of  kindness  to  all  was  on  her  lips;  but 
towards  her  children  her  affection  was  uncommonly  strong, 
and  her  religious  principles  directed  her  affection  into  the 
path  of  tender  solicitude  about  their  eternal  welfare.  By 
prayer,  by  exhortation,  by  example,  and  by  many  tears,  did 
she  study  to  advance  our  knowledge  of  the  true  God,  and 
Jesus  Christ  whom  he  hath  sent.  She  had  herself  experienced 
the  sweetness  of  unaffected  godliness,  and  was  greatly  concern- 
ed that  her  children  might  also  taste  and  see  that  the  Lord  is 
gracious." 

A  warm-hearted  and  prudent  mother  will  exert  almost  un- 
limited influence  over  her  children  during  the  first  six  or  eight 
years  of  their  life — a  period  of  all  others  when  the  heart  is 
most  susceptible  of  deep  and  lasting  impressions.  The  divine 
Author  of  our  frame  hath  thus,  in  his  infinite  goodness,  fur- 
nished a  pious  mother  with  efficient  means  of  moulding  the 
tempers  of  her  children,  and  implanting  in  their  tender  minds 
those  principles  of  piety  and  virtue  which  will  excite  them  to 
everything  great  and  excellent  in  conduct,  and  prepare  them, 
as  immortal  beings,  for  the  high  destinies  of  a  never-ending 
existence.  She  will  lead  her  tender  and  interesting  charge  to 
the  feet  of  the  good  Shepherd,  and  till  their  glowing  I 


24  INFLUENCE    OF    A    PIOUS    MOTHER. 

with  high  admiration  of  his  condescension  and  grace,  by- 
reminding  them,  that  when  parents  brought  their  children 
to  him  whilst  he  sojourned  on  earth,  he  laid  his  hands  on 
them  and  blessed  them  ;  and  that  now,  when  he  is  exalted  to 
the  skies,  he  still  promises  to  gather  the  lambs  with  his 
arms,  and  carry  them  in  his  bosom.  Solomon  frequently  ad- 
verts, with  great  tenderness,  to  the  pious  counsels  of  his  mother. 
Timothy  appears  to  have  been  instructed,  when  a  child,  by 
his  mother  and  grandmother,  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  an  instance  of  children 
brought  up  in  the  fear  of  God  and  the  love  of  the  Saviour, 
while  their  mother  showed  no  marked  solicitude  to  cherish  a 
life  of  piety  in  her  family. 

"  Delightful  task  !  to  rear  the  tender  thought, 
To  teach  the  young  idea  how  to  shoot, 
To  pour  the  fresh  instruction  o'er  the  mind, 
To  breathe  the  enlivening  spirit,  and  to  fix 
The  generous  purpose  in  the  glowing  breast." 

What  an  incalculable  blessing  to  the  church — what  a  glo- 
rious prospect  of  the  revival  of  religion — to  behold  our  young 
females,  amidst  all  the  amiable  and  useful  accomplishments 
which  adorn  their  sex,  engraving  the  words  of  Solomon  on 
the  frame  and  temper  of  their  hearts — "  Favor  is  deceitful, 
and  beauty  is  vain ;  but  a  woman  that  feareth  the  Lord,  she 
shall  be  praised  !"  Few  men  have  attained  to  high  eminence, 
either  in  science  or  in  religion,  who  have  not  expressed  deep- 
felt  gratitude  for  the  example,  and  counsels,  and  prayers  of 
an  affectionate  and  pious  mother  ;  and  in  the  case  of  Dr. 
Waugh,  this  grateful  feeling  was  strikingly  manifested.  It 
were  injustice  to  her  memory  not  to  record  most  prominently 
the  reverential  affection  with  which  he  ever  spoke  of  the  char- 
acter of  his  mother.  It  was  his  delight  to  breathe  into  the 
ears  of  his  own  children  the  story  of  her  piety  and  kindness  ; 
to  her  he  looked  back,  even  at  the  age  of  threescore  years  and 
ten,  with  all  the  humility  and  fondness  of  a  child  ;  and  when, 
nearly  forty  years  after  her  death,  he  heard  the  summons  is- 


INFLUENCE    OF    A    PIOUS    MOTUElt.  25 

sued  that  was  to  gather  him  to  his  fathers,  his  filial  tenderness, 
as  will  be  seen  at  the  closing  account  of  his  life,  even  then 
prompted  the  wish — that  his  pillow  could  have  been  softened 
by  the  hand  of  his  mother,  and  his  heart  refreshed  and 
strengthened  by  her  prayers  ! — thus  recommending  on  his 
death-bed  the  performance  of  that  duty  to  which  he  was  ever 
so  anxious  to  direct  the  attention  of  the  young — "  Ilonor  thy 
father  and  thy  mother." 

The  laudable  exertions  of  this  excellent  parent,  in  the  re- 
ligious education  of  her  children,  were  followed  by  a  rich 
recompense  of  reward.  With  a  mind  constituted  like  hers, 
she  tasted  the  sweetest  of  all  pleasures,  in  beholding  her  three 
children  give  satisfactory  evidence  of  fearing  God  from  their 
youth. 

Elizabeth,  her  only  daughter,  experienced  in  her  childhood 
the  fulfilment  of  God's  gracious  promise — "  They  that  seek 
me  early  shall  find  me."  She  was  equal  to  her  mother  in 
tender  sensibility,  in  ardent  piety,  and  in  the  faithful  dis- 
charge of  every  Christian  and  domestic  duty,  as  a  wife,  as  a 
mother,  and  as  a  friend.  She  had  a  numerous  family  of 
children,  towards  whom  her  heart  yearned  with  all  the  kindly 
affections ;  but  her  chief  and  deepest  solicitude  was  ever  oc- 
cupied about  their  eternal  interests,  in  her  estimation  infinitely 
more  important  than  to  see  them  in  possession  of  thousands 
of  gold  and  silver  :  they  were  indeed  children  of  many  pious 
counsels  and  fervent  prayers.  Her  dying  chamber  was  like 
the  gate  of  heaven.  The  affections  of  her  heart  seemed  to 
be  altogether  overpowered  whilst  contemplating  the  unsearch- 
able riches  of  sovereign  grace,  and  telling  the  members  of  her 
family,  and  her  Christian  friends  who  came  to  visit  her,  what 
God  had  done  for  her  soul.  So  long  as  she  was  able  to  ex- 
press her  feelings,  the  high  praises  of  redeeming  love  were 
continually  on  her  lips.  On  the  evening  of  the  27th  October, 
1809,  when  her  articulation  had  become  so  indistinct  that  it 
was  with  great  difficulty  she  could  make  herself  to  be  under- 
stood, the  last  request  she  made  to  her  family  was  to  sing 
the  twenty-third  Psalm.     Her  lip-  were  perceived   to  move 


26  THOMAS    WAUGH. 

all  the  time  they  were  singing  ;  and  in  about  ten  minutes  after, 
she  breathed  her  last,  without  a  struggle  or  a  groan,  and  fell 
peacefully  asleep  in  the  arms  of  her  God  and  Saviour. 

Thomas,  the  elder  son,  who  succeeded  his  father  in  the 
farm,  appears  to  have  been  also  decidedly  religious  in  early 
life.  He  was  a  man  of  acute  and  vigorous  intellect,  of  simple 
manners,  and  of  unbending  integrity  :  wedded  to  old  forms 
and  customs — the  only  valuable  effect  of  which  was,  his 
sturdy  attachment  to  the  old-fashioned  and  scriptural  notions 
of  the  holiness  of  God's  law,  and  the  strictness  of  its  moral 
sanctions — the  fixedness  of  resolution  with  which  he  adhered 
to  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  path  of  duty  in  his  religious 
concerns,  as  well  as  in  his  intercourse  with  the  world,  dis- 
played in  high  perfection  the  tenacem  projiositi  virum.  His 
friends  sometimes  thought  that  he  carried  this  temper  of  mind 
too  far  ;  but  he  was  esteemed  and  respected  by  all  who  knew 
him,  for  his  pious,  upright,  benevolent  character.  The  pecu- 
liarities of  his  manner,  though  numerous,  were  perfectly  in- 
offensive ;  and,  under  a  rough  exterior,  he  possessed  much 
kindness  of  heart.  No  two  brothers  could  have  evinced, 
generally,  dispositions  more  striking  and  contrasted  than  did 
Thomas  and  Alexander  Waugh.  The  former  had  no  strong 
partiality  to  the  barren  moors  of  East  Gordon,  or  to  the  rec- 
ollections of  Caldron-brae,  any  further  than  as  these  localities 
afforded  support  to  his  numerous  children.  Two  things  he 
loved  to  see — 

"  The  fleecy  flocks  the  hills  adorn, 
The  valleys  rich  with  waving  corn." 

Imagination  formed  no  element  in  his  mental  structure :  while 
to  Alexander,  on  the  other  hand,  the  wild  heaths,  moss-haggs, 
and  gray  stones  of  Gordon,  were  as  Arcadian  meads  and  mar- 
ble columns — replete  with  beauty  and  poetry,  and  pregnant 
with  "  thoughts  more  deep  than  tears  !" 

His  younger  brother  used  to  delight  in  mentioning  the 
following  pleasing  instance  of  fraternal  affection.  On  setting 
out  from  home,  to  attend  his  usual  course  of  study  at  the 


ALEXANDER JUS    EARLY    EDUCATION.  27 

University,  after  receiving  all  the  money  that  liis  father  judged 
necessary,  Thomas  generally  followed  him  to  some  short  dis- 
tance, under  pretence  of  taking  leave,  and  thus  found  an  oppor- 
tunity of  putting  into  his  hands  an  additional  sum,  in  order  that 
his  mind  might  be  easy  in  regard  to  his  future  means.  In  ad- 
verting to  this  matter  afterwards,  in  the  presence  of  some  of  the 
near  relations  of  the  family,  he  added,  that  his  brother  never 
kept  any  account  of  the  money  thus  advanced,  considering  it 
to  fall  under  that  Scripture  rule — "  Let  not  thy  left  haud  know 
what  thy  right  hand  doeth." 

Through  the  blessing  of  God  on  his  patient  industry  and  fru- 
gal habits,  Thomas  Waugh  was  enabled  to  purchase  a  farm 
of  considerable  value  on  the  banks  of  the  Tweed,  where,  in  the 
bosom  of  his  family,  he  died,  8th  August,  1820,  in  the  full 
assurance  of  faith  that  he  should  have  boldness  to  enter  into 
the  holiest  of  all,  by  the  blood  of  Jesus. 

Alexander,  who  was  the  youngest  of  the  family,  was  de- 
voted by  his  parent.-,  whilst  yet  a  child,  to  the  Christian 
ministry.  With  many  of  the  small  farmers  it  was  customary, 
besides  educating  all  their  children  at  the  parochial  school, 
to  bring  up  one  of  their  sons  to  a  learned  profession.  To 
this  honorable  parental  ambition  we  are  indebted  for  many 
of  the  professors  in  our  different  universities,  many  of  our 
most  eminent  physicians,  and  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the 
clergy,  both  in  and  out  of  the  establishment,  who  flourished 
in  this  part  of  the  island  during  the  preceding  century.  The 
subject  of  this  memoir  continued  at  the  school  of  his  native 
parish  till  nearly  twelve  years  of  age,  occupied  in  the  ordi- 
nary exercises  of  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic.  It  de- 
serves to  be  mentioned,  that  at  every  Scottish  parochial  school 
a  portion  of  the  Bible  was  then  daily  read  by  all  the  scholars, 
who  were  also  required  to  commit  accurately  to  memory  the 
Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism,  often  with  the  quotations  from 
Scripture,  or  proofs,  as  they  were  called,  attached  to  each 
question.  In  this  most  perspicuous  and  comprehensive  sum- 
mary of  divine  truth  it  was  imperative  on  the  master  regu- 
larly to  examine  all  the   children   every  Saturday.     Through 


28  EARLSTOUN    SCHOOL. 

the  watchful  and  parental  superintendence  of  the  presbyteries 
of  the  established  church,  these  beneficial  regulations  are  still 
enforced  in  most  of  the  parochial  schools,  each  of  which 
is  regularly  examined  by  a  committee  of  presbytery  every 
year. 

As  a  preparatory  step  for  the  University,  Alexander  Waugh 
was  removed  from  Gordon  school,  at  the  commencement  of 
1766,  and  sent  to  Earlstoun,  a  neighboring  parish,  the  school- 
master of  which  had  obtained  high  celebrity  as  a  teacher  of 
Latin  and  Greek.  His  parents,  for  their  station  of  life,  were  in 
what  might  be  called  easy  circumstances ;  and  they  expended 
with  cheerful  liberality  a  very  considerable  sum  during  the  sub- 
sequent thirteen  years,  in  giving  him  a  more  finished  education 
than  most  young  men  intended  for  the  ministry  were  then  ac- 
customed to  receive. 

The  village  of  Earlstoun,  where  Alexander  Waugh  prose- 
cuted his  education  during  the  greater  part  of  the  succeeding 
five  years  (the  important  five  years  from  twelve  to  seventeen) 
lies  in  the  very  centre  of  that  romantic  region  so  long  and 
justly  celebrated  as  the  Arcadia  of  Scotland.  The  hill  of 
Cowdenknowes,  famed  in  many  a  Doric  lay,  overhangs  the 
village  on  one  side,  whilst  on  another  the  ruins  of  the 
Rhymer's  Tower,  associated  with  so  much  that  is  interesting 
both  in  history  and  romance,  are  still  to  be  seen  on  the  "  pas- 
toral haughs  of  Leader."  At  a  short  distance,  the  Tweed, 
after  receiving  the  subsidiary  streams  of  Ettrick  and  Gala- 
water,  pursues  its  stately  course  through  a  rich  and  beauti- 
ful country,  diversified  by  the  picturesque  hills  of  Eildon, 
and  embellished  by  the  monastic  ruins  of  Melrose  and  Dry- 
burgh.  These,  and  a  hundred  other  scenes  of  old  renown, 
to  be  viewed  from  the  Black  Hill  of  Earlstoun  or  the  neigh- 
boring heights,  could  not  fail  to  make  a  vivid  impression  on 
the  heart  and  fancy  of  such  a  youth  as  Alexander  Waugh  ; 
and  doubtless  contributed,  in  no  ordinary  degree,  to  foster 
the  national  enthusiasm  which  formed  so  remarkable  a  trait 
in  his  character,  as  well  as  to  awaken  the  slumbering  powers 
of  that  rich  poetical  imagination,  which   in  after-life  so  often 


EARLSTOUN    SCHOOL.  29 

astonished  and  delighted  his  auditors,  both  in  his  pulpit  dis- 
courses, and  on  more  familiar  occasions. 

The  pleasing  account  which  he  has  himself  left,  in  his  pa- 
pers, of  the  scenes  of  Earlstoun  school,  will  call  to  the  recol- 
lection of  many  of  our  readers  "  the  incense-breathing  morn" 
of  youth,  when 

"  The  sooty  blackbird 
Mellowed  his  pipe  and  softened  every  note, 
The  eglantine  smelled  sweeter,  and  the  rose 
Assumed  a  die  more  deep ;  whilst  every  flower 
Vied  with  its  fellow  plant  in  luxury 
Of  dress." 

"January  1,  17GG,  entered  the  grammar-school  of  Earls- 
toun, in  the  county  of  Berwick :  John  Mill,  master.  The 
providence  of  God  directed  my  worthy  father  to  send  me 
thither,  by  the  good  character  which  the  schoolmaster  bore? 
and  by  its  nearness  to  Gordon.  Though  the  progress  we  made 
in  the  Latin  language  was  slower  than  what  is  usually  made  in 
the  grammar-schools  of  large  towns  or  cities,  yet  the  sim- 
ple and  innocent  manners  of  the  place,  the  regard  to  the 
duties  of  religion,  which  was  universal,  and  the  wild  and  pleasing 
scenery  of  that  part  of  the  country,  brought  advantages  to 
my  heart  which  in  many  other  places  were  not  to  be  expected. 
I  cannot  recollect  the  manners  of  that  happy  village,  and 
the  innocent  pursuits  of  former  days,  especially  when  I  com- 
pare them  with  the  far,  fir  other  manners  which  prevail  in 
London,  without  sighing  and  longing  for  the  past.  Goldsmith 
has,  in  his  Deserted  Village,  touched  those  days  with  so  happy 
a  pencil,  that  it  needs  little  more  but  to  change  the  names, 
to  make  his  poem  a  description  of  Earlstoun,  with  this  dif- 
ference, that  it  is  not  yet,  and  I  trust  never  will  be,  a  '  desert- 
ed village.'  But  Goldsmith's  minister,  schoolmaster,  and  pub- 
lican, were  the  minister,  schoolmaster  and  publican  of  Earl- 
stoun, when  I  first  knew  it. 

"  The  people  of  Scotland  reap  important  advantages  from 
the  establishment  of  parochial  schools  in  all  parts  of  the  na- 
tion.    This,  depending  not  on  the  precarious  charity  of  the 


30  EARLSTOUN    SCHOOL. 

times,  but  on  the  authority  of  Parliament,  will  continue  to 
be  a  source  of  knowledge  and  instruction  for  youth,  I  trust,  to 
late  ages.  By  the  care  that  is  taken  to  make  them  at  school 
acquainted  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Assembly's  Catechism ? 
they  are  prepared  for  taking  a  respectable  part  in  the  an- 
nual parochial  examination,  and  fitted  for  understanding  the 
public  instructions  which,  on  every  Lord's  day,  are  given  to  the 
people.  The  cheapness  of  education  also  brings  it  within  the 
reach  of  the  poorest  laborer.  One  shilling  a  quarter  for  read- 
ing ;  one  shilling  and  sixpence  for  reading,  writing,  and  ac- 
counts ;  and  half-a-crown  for  Latin  and  Greek,  were  the  stated 
wages.  The  care  which  the  worthy  master  took  of  us,  his  joy 
at  our  proficiency,  and  his  uneasiness  at  our  sloth,  were  truly 
parental.     I  shall  reverence  his  memory  while  I  live.* 

*  This  system  owes  its  existence  to  the  Scottish  Reformers.  The 
First  Book  of  Discipline,  published  in  1560,  by  Knox  and  his  com- 
panions, contains  the  first  suggestion:  "  Seeing  that  men  now-a-days 
are  not  miraculously  gifted,  as  in  the  times  of  the  apostles,  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  knowledge  and  learning  to  the  generations  following,  espe- 
cially for  the  profit  and  comfort  of  Christ's  kirk,  it  is  necessary  that 
care  be  had  of  the  virtuous  and  godly  education  of  youth.  We  judge, 
therefore,  that  in  every  parish  there  should  be  a  schoolmaster ;  such  an 
one  as  is  able  at  least  to  teach  the  grammar  and  the  Latin  tongue, 
where  the  town  is  of  any  reputation."  This  suggestion,  aided  by  fre- 
quent resolutions,  to  the  same  effect,  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Kirk,  sufficed  for  a  beginning ;  but  tbe  scheme  did  not  take  sufficient 
root  till  1616,  when  it  was  enforced,  with  some  necessary  details,  by  an 
order  of  the  Scottish  council  The  order  needed  a  legislative  sanction; 
and  this  it  obtained,  in  1633,  in  a  parliament  held  during  one  of  Charles 
the  First's  visits  to  Scotland,  which  added  some  provisions  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  schools  and  the  teachers.  By  these  means  the  wants  of  the 
more  populous  districts  were  supplied  ;  and,  during  the  fervor  of  "the 
covenanted  work  of  reformation"  which  soon  followed,  these  schools 
concurred  with  the  zealous  labors  of  the  presbyters  in  spreading 
among  high  and  low  a  very  fair  degree  of  common  knowledge  suited 
to  their  different  ranks,  and  a  degree  of  religious  knowledge  which 
would  put  the  attainments  of  the  present  generation,  in  that  respect,  to 
the  blush.  The  gravity  of  character,  the  intense  regard  to  duty,  the 
stern  zeal  of  the  Scottish  people  of  that  age,  were  primarily  owing  to 
religious   sentiment;     but  their   susceptibility   to  this  sentiment  was 


EARLSTOUN    SCHOOL.  31 

"On  one  or  other  of  the  da)^s  of  January  in  1*767  or  1768, 
it  pleased  God  to  visit  me  with  the  small-pox.  Inoculation 
was  then  unknown  in  that  part  of  the  country.  My  dear 
father,  on  being  sent  for,  came  himself,  and  brought  me  to  East 
Gordon  behind  him  on  horseback,  in  the  midst  of  the  snow, 
which  lay  a  foot  deep  on  the  ground.  To  this  circumstance  it 
was  probably  owing  that  I  had  so  small  a  number  of  pustules, 
— little  more  than  fifty  :  they  were  also  of  a  good  kind.  I  soon 
recovered,  and  returned  back  to  school.  To  thee,  the  God  of 
my  life,  and  the  length  of  my  days,  I  ascribe  praise  and  glory 
for  my  preservation.  0  that  the  life  saved  in  thy  mercy  were 
ever  employed  in  thy  service. 

owing  to  the  early  and  general  culture  of  their  minds.  The  conse- 
quences to  the  civil  and  religious  liberties  of  Scotland,  where  the  first 
heave  was  felt,  and,  through  sympathy  and  connection,  to  England  and 
to  Europe,  it  would  be  difficult  to  over-estimate. 

The  atrocious  endeavors  of  Charles  the  Second  to  extirpate  presby- 
tery had  trodden  down  the  system  ef  education  so  closely  connected 
with  it.  Where  any  schools  were  left,  teachers  had  intruded  who  were 
ignorant  and  worthless ;  and  after  the  revolution,  it  was  found  neces- 
sary, by  a  Scottish  act,  passed  in  1693  ("for  settling  the  quiet  and 
peace  of  the  church"),  to  ordain  that  every  parochial  teacher  should  be 
liable  to  the  Trial-judgment  and  censure  of  the  presbyteries  of  the  bounds 
for  their  sufficiency,  qualifications,  and  deportment  in  their  office  ;  and 
by  an  act  passed  in  1696,  the  whole  system  was  re-established  and  re- 
modelled. It  required  a  teacher  to  be  provided  in  every  parish,  who 
was  to  be  appointed  by  the  minister  and  heritors  (landholders)  of  the 
parish,  with  a  fixed  salary  of  not  less  than  100  mcrks  (5/.  lis.  Id  stg.) 
nor  exceeding  200  merks  (11/.  2*.  2d.)  annually,  to  be  paid  by  the 
heritors  in  proportion  to  their  valued  rents,  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
tiends  or  stipends  of  the  ministers.  The  teacher  was,  besides,  to  have 
a  house  and  a  garden,  and  was  permitted  to  exact  moderate  fees  (sub- 
ject to  the  control  of  the  minister  and  heritors)  from  the  scholars.  Un- 
der this  enactment,  the  parish  schools  of  Scotland  flourished  for  a  con. 
tury.  The  scholars  were  taught  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic, 
and,  if  they  chose,  book-keeping,  mathematics,  Latin,  and  Greek.  The 
school  was  opened  and  closed  with  prayer.  The  books  principally  used 
for  reading  were  the  Bible  and  catechisms.  Each  scholar,  as  soon  as 
le  was  able,  was  required,  every  morning,  to  repeat  a  part  of  the 
Shorter  Catechism,  with  or  without  Scripture   proofs ;  and  the  Satur- 


32  EARLSTOUN    SCHOOL. 

"  As  I  believe  that  a  sparrow  falls  not  to  the  ground  with- 
out the  agency  of  Divine  Providence,  I  think  it  right  to  pre- 
serve the  memory  of  the  care  of  that  Providence  about  my 
life  during  the  period  of  youthful  rashness  and  inexperience. 
How  often  was  I  in  danger  of  being  dashed  in  pieces  while  I 
was  climbing  the  tree,  the  loose  fragments  of  old  towers,  and 
the  rugged  precipice  jutting  out  over  the  river!  I  almost 
feel  the  trembling  of  my  joints  while  I  look  back  on  these 
dangers  at  Cowdenknowes,  Rhymer's  Tower,  and  particularly 
the  Gaitheugh  opposite  to  Old  Melrose.  The  least  slip  of  my 
foot,  or  withdrawment  of  my  hand,  might  have  proved  fatal 
to  my  existence  in  this  world.     I  never  repeat  these  beauti- 

day  forenoon  was  appropriated  to  a  review  of  what  had  been  learned 
during  the  week,  especially  in  religious  knowledge.  The  only  vacation 
was  for  one  month  during  harvest ;  and,  immediately  before  this  (some- 
times oftener),  the  school  was  publicly  examined  in  presence  of  the  whole 
presbytery.  To  eke  out  his  income,  the  teacher  usually  held  other  small 
parochial  offices.  He  was  precentor,  or  clerk,  session  clerk  (i.  e.  he 
kept  the  book  containing  the  proceedings  of  the  minister,  elders,  and 
heritors,  attended  their  meetings,  and  kept  the  parish  registers),  col- 
lector of  cess  (a  sort  of  poor-rate),  and  land-surveyor  for  the  parish ;  and 
for  a  considerable  period,  men  of  excellent  qualifications  were  tempted, 
by  these  various  emoluments,  to  become  candidates  for  the  situation. 
The  male  scholars  (for  boys  and  girls  attended  the  same  school,  though 
in  different  classes  and  seated  apart  from  each  other)  were  thus  fitted 
for  the  college  at  a  small  expense  ;  and  though  few  or  no  great  schol- 
ars were  produced,  yet  all  had  enough  to  give  their  shrewd  perseve- 
rance its  full  play.  The  perfervidum  ingenhim  Scotorum  was  attem- 
pered down  to  a  firm  purpose  in  a  rational  pursuit ;  and  the  result  may 
be  seen  in  the  vast  numbers  of  Scotchmen  who,  since  the  above  period 
of  1696,  have  risen  to  wealth,  rank,  and  renown,  in  every  department 
of  active  life. 

The  changes  that  had  taken  place  in  everything  in  the  course  of  a 
century  rendered  the  emoluments  of  the  parochial  teacher  inadequate, 
and  in  the  same  proportion  had  lessened  the  qualifications  of  the  candi- 
dates for  the  office.  In  1803,  therefore,  the  British  parliament  passed 
an  act,  increasing  the  salary  ;  so  that,  for  the  twenty-five  years  next 
following,  it  should  not  be  less  than  300,  nor  more  than  400  merks,  and 
that  at  the  end  of  every  twenty-five  years  it  should  be  augmented  in 
proportion  to  the  average  price  of  a  chalder  of  oatmeal. 


EARLSTOUN    SCHOOL.  33 

ful  lines  of  Addison's,  but  my  imagination  hurries  back  to  the 
period  I  speak  of : 

'  When  in  the  slippery  ptiths  of  youth 
With  heedless  steps  I  ran, 
Thine  arm,  unseen,  conveyed  me  safe, 
And  led  me  up  to  man. 

Through  hidden  dangers,  snares,  and  deaths, 
It  gently  cleared  my  way  ;' 

O  that  I  could  add,  with  equal  truth ! 

'  And  through  the  pleasing  scenes  of  vice, 
More  to  be  feared  than  they.' 

"  In  the  midst,  however,  of  these  dangers,  I  was  gathering 
health,  and  strengthening  my  constitution.  My  school-fellows 
and  I  were  accustomed  to  rise  in  the  summer  mornings  some- 
times at  five  o'clock,  and,  to  the  number  of  ten  or  twenty,  to 
visit  ;The  White  Cleugh  Well,'  a  kind  of  mineral  spring, 
about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  village,  where,  if  the  waters 
did  us  no  signal  good,  we  were  certainly  much  indebted,  as 
somebody  calls  it,  to  the  goddess  of  the  waters. 

"At  the  earlier  season  of  the  year,  we  were  accustomed 
to  rise  very  soon  also,  for  the  important  business  of  drawing 
our  fishing  lines,  which  had  been  set  over  nio-ht  in  the 
Leader. 

"To  those  and  similar  excursions,  particularly  bird-nesting 
in  the  country,  the  most  pastoral  and  sweet  that  my  eyes 
ever  beheld,  and  where  every  brae  is  replenished  with  bushes, 
and  every  bush  vocal, — is  to  be  ascribed  the  good  health 
which  our  youth  generally  enjoy,  and  the  enthusiasm  with 
which  every  native  thinks  and  speaks  of  Leader  haughs  and 
Tweedside  : — 

'  Yes !  let  the  rich  deride,  the  proud  disdain, 
These  humble  blessings  of  the  lowly  train  ; 
To  me  more  dear,  congenial  to  my  heart, 
One  native  charm,  than  all  the  gloss  of  art.' 

2* 


34  EARLSTOUN    SCHOOL. 

"  I  recollect  the  friendships  of  youth  with  reverence. 
They  are  the  embraces  of  the  heart  of  man  ere  vice  has  pol- 
luted, or  interest  diverted  its  operations.  In  the  churchyard 
of  Earlstoun  lies  the  friend  of  my  youth.  John  Anderson 
was  a  young  man  of  the  gentlest  manners  and  of  unassumed 
piety.  Often,  when  the  public  service  of  the  church  was 
over,  have  we  wandered  among  the  broom  of  Cowdenknowes, 
and  talked  of  the  power  of  that  Being  by  whose  hands  the 
foundations  of  the  mountains  we  beheld  were  laid,  and  by 
whose  pencil  the  lovely  scene  around  us  was  drawn,  and  by 
whose  breath  the  flowers  among  our  feet  wrere  perfumed. 
On  our  knees  have  we  many  a  time  in  succession  lifted  up  our 
hearts  to  him  for  knowledge,  for  pardon,  for  the  formation  of 
his  image  in  the  soul.  We  looked  forward  to  the  days  of 
coming  prosperity,  and  fondly  hoped  it  might  please  God  that, 
hand  in  hand,  we  should  pass  through  life  to  that  world  we 
were  taught  to  love  and  aspire  after.  But  Heaven  thought 
otherwise,  and  by  a  consumption  carried  my  friend  to  the 
grave  in  the  bloom  of  life.  I  cannot,  even  at  this  distance  of 
time,  read  his  letters,  but  the  recollection  of  the  past  over- 
comes my  soul  with  weakness. 

"  John  Anderson  had  a  sister :  if  ever  piety  and  mildness 
of  soul,  with  most  becoming  softness,  inhabited  a  female 
form,  it  was  the  form  of  that  excellent  young  woman. 
Through  solicitude  about  her  brother,  she  caught  his  disor- 
der. I  hurried  to  Earlstoun  the  moment  I  heard  of  her 
danger  :  she  made  an  effort  to  rise  up  to  receive  me.  '  My 
brother,  my  brother,  he  whom  you  so  loved,  is  gone!  I 
heard  the  trampling  of  the  horses'  feet  as  his  funeral  passed 
by  the  door.  I  shall  soon  be  with  him.  My  God  will  sup- 
ply all  my  wants  out  of  his  fulness  in  glory  by  Christ  Jesus.' 
Her  strength  was  spent ; — in  four  clays  after,  I  held  the  cord 
which  let  her  down  into  the  grave.  She  was  buried  in  the 
grave  adjoining  to  her  brother's,  and  but  ten  days  after  his 
interment.  'They  were  lovely  in  their  lives,  and  in  their 
deaths  they  were  not  divided.'  They  were  the  boast  of  the 
village.     Their  memory  is  still  fragrant ;  reproach  couJd  not 


EARLSTOUN    SCHOOL.  35 

sully  their  fair  character  ;  I  do  not  remember  of  an  enemy  they 
ever  had.  Their  religion  was  truly  like  apples  of  gold  in  pic- 
tures of  silver.  Farewell,  my  earliest  friend !  I  will  hold  up 
your  image  to  my  heart,  and  trace  on  my  own  the  sincerity, 
friendship,  love,  and  goodness  of  yours."* 

One  of  his  surviving  class-fellows  at  Earlstoun  school,  who 
has  attained  to  honorable  distinction  in  his  profession,  has 
kindly  favored  us  with  an  account  of  this  interesting  period 
of  his  life :  "  Alexander  Waugh  was  the  most  active,  lively 
boy  at  the  school,  and  the  leader  of  all   frolics.     It  was  im- 


*  The  above  John  Anderson  was  the  brother  of  the  late  Mr.  Ander- 
son, surgeon  in  Selkirk,  the  father  of  Mrs.  Mungo  Park.  With  Mr. 
Park,  who  was  a  native  of  the  same  part  of  the  country  as  himself,  Mr. 
Waugh  was  on  terms  of  great  intimacy ;  and  when  in  London  in  1805, 
previous  to  his  setting  out  on  his  second  journey  to  Africa,  in  which  he 
lost  his  life,  Mr.  Park,  with  Mr.  Alexander  Anderson,  his  brother-in- 
law,  who  accompanied  him  on  his  travels,  was  in  the  habit  of  spending 
the  greatest  part  of  his  spare  time  at  Mr.  Waugh's.  Independent  of 
the  interest  taken  by  him  in  the  extension  of  geographical  knowledge, 
Mr.  Waugh  was  deeply  solicitous  for  the  temporal  and  eternal  interests 
of  the  inhabitants  of  that  unhappy  country;  and  the  manner  in  which 
they  might  be  best  promoted  upon  the  return  of  those  two  interesting 
men  from  their  hazardous  undertaking,  was  by  them  all  fondly  and  ar- 
dently anticipated.  Mr.  Anderson  had  not  the  appearance  of  a  strong 
man  :  he  wanted  the  athletic  form  and  well-braced  nerves  of  Park, 
whom,  however,  he  was  firm  in  his  determination  to  accompany,  not- 
withstanding an  apprehension  delicately  expressed  one  evening  by  Mr. 
Waugh,  that  the  climate  might  be  more  distressing  in  its  effects  upon 
him  than  upon  Mr.  Park,  who  immediately  replied,  with  great  anima- 
tion, "  My  dear  friend,  I  have  no  fear  of  him  ;  he's  the  very  man  for 
the  climate.  I'll  bring  him  back  as  tough  as  wire."  Poor  fellow  !  he 
died  a  very  few  months  after  they  set  out  on  their  journey. 

At  this  time,  Mr.  Waugh  became  acquainted  with  the  late  Sir 
Joseph  Banks,  who  kindly  and  voluntarily  communicated  to  him  any 
intelligence  he  received  of  the  travellers;  and  when  the  first  re- 
port of  Mr.  Park's  death  reached  this  country.  Sir  Joseph  sent  Mr.  W. 
immediate  word.  It  may  be  observed,  that  Mr.  W.  thought,  from  the 
first,  that  there  was  sufficient  consistency  in  the  report,  not  then  gener- 
ally credited,  to  warrant  him  in  not  entertaining  any  hope  of  its  being 
either  premature  or  false. 


36  EARLSTOUN    SCHOOL. 

possible  to  detain  him  at  home  in  the  mornings :  he  was  of- 
ten out  before  sunrise  ;  and  the  places  he  visited  were  Carrol- 
side,  Cowdenknowes,  but  more  generally  Gaitheugh,  distant 
about  two  miles, — a  steep  ravine  opposite  Old  Melrose,  for 
ages  noted  as  the  best  cover  for  foxes  in  all  the  country. 
Yv'hen  asked,  on  his  return  at  breakfast-time,  where  he  had 
been,  his  answer  generally  was,  '  I  have  been  seeing  foxy,  and 
hearing  the  linnets.'  His  taste  for  the  beauties  of  nature  was 
born  with  him,  and  constituted  a  leading  feature  of  his  mind. 
It  was  at  Gaitheugh  that,  one  morning,  he  fell  from  a  tree, 
when  climbing  for  a  gled's  nest,  and  lay  for  some  time  insen- 
sible, no  one  being  with  him.  In  the  midst  of  all  his  ram- 
bles and  frolics,  he  was  the  best  scholar  at  school,  especially  in 
Latin,  and  equal  to  any  of  the  other  boys  in  Greek.  Many  a 
time  his  class-fellows  exerted  themselves  to  excel  him,  but  in 
general  failed.  Most  of  his  companions  rose  in  after-life  to  re- 
spectable rank,  either  in  the  military  or  medical  department. 
Here  he  learned  to  play  on  the  violin,  of  which  he  was  very 
fond." 

Besides  the  accident  mentioned  by  his  class-fellow,  he  had 
nearly  lost  his  life  at  Gordon,  when,  during  one  of  his  childish 
rambles,  he  fell  into  a  peat  hagg,  where  he  would  have  been 
inevitably  drowned  but  for  the  efforts  of  his  brother  Thomas, 
who  caught  him  by  his  clothes,  and  rescued  him.  The  same 
watchful  eye  which  saved  David,  when  a  stripling,  from  the 
paw  of  the  lion,  and  the  paw  of  the  bear,  and  preserved  him 
to  be  the  swTeet  singer  of  Israel,  watched  over  Alexander 
Waugh  in  his  childhood  and  }7outh,  and  elevated  him  to  a 
sphere  of  distinguished  usefulness  in  the  church  of  Christ. 
There  are  few  who  cannot  recollect  instances  of  the  signal  in- 
terposition of  a  gracious  Providence,  when  there  was  but  a 
hair's  breadth  betwixt  them  and  death.  "  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my 
soul !  who  hath  redeemed  thy  life  from  destruction,  and  crowned 
thee  with  losing-kindness  and  tender  mercy." 

It  is  pleasant,  amidst  all  the  youthful  sprightliness  which 
characterized  this  spirited  and  lively  boy,  to  find  the  princi- 
ples of  fervent  piety  deeply  rooted  in  his  heart.     He  read  the 


EAULY    riETY STITCHELL.  37 

Scriptures  frequently  and  devoutly,  delighted  in  secret  prayer, 
and  labored  to  imbibe  the  holy  temper  of  Ilim  "who  in- 
creased in  wisdom  and  stature,  in  favor  with  God  and  man." 
It  is  stated  by  one  of  the  few  surviving  companions  of  his 
boyhood,  that  it  was  their  custom,  perhaps  in  the  spirit  of  a 
very  natural  desire  to  imitate  their  superiors  in  years,  to  meet 
together  under  the  shade  of  an  elder-tree,  whose  withered 
trunk  still  remains,  and  with  much  decorum  to  conduct  the 
ordinary  services  of  a  prayer-meeting.  On  these  occasions, 
Alexander  Waugh,  being  the  eldest  boy,  generally  offered  up 
the  prayers ;  and  it  was  from  observing  the  early  indications 
of  the  opening  qualities  of  his  head  and  heart  thus  given 
(and  no  doubt  most  gratefully  listened  to  by  his  mother,  who 
stood  concealed  in  the  vicinity),  that  her  mind  was  first  im- 
pressed with  the  desire  of  iitting  him  for  the  sacred  ministry. 
We  are  also  informed  by  one  of  his  earliest  associates  at  Gor- 
don, that  before  he  left  Earlstoun  school,  when  he  was  little 
more  than  fifteen  years  of  age,  he  occasionally  attended  a  re- 
ligious society  which  met  at  East  Gordon  for  fellowship  and 
prayer,  in  the  house  of  James  Spence,  an  elder  of  the  Secession 
Church ;  and  that,  even  at  this  early  period,  he  was  marked, 
both  by  the  aged  and  the  young,  for  his  singularly  appropriate 
and  interesting  manner  of  expressing  himself  in  prayer.  Our 
informant  also  recollects  receiving  a  letter  from  him  about  this 
time,  in  commendation  of  such  religious  societies,  "  full  of  se- 
rious thoughts  and  good  advices." 

In  1770,  when  sixteen  years  of  age,  he  joined  the  Secession 
congregation  of  Stitchell,  of  which  he  continued  a  member 
till  1779,  when  he  was  licensed  to  preach  the  everlasting 
Gospel.  The  holy  enthusiasm  with  which,  in  after  life,  he 
was  wont  to  speak  of  the  sacramental  occasions  on  Stitchell 
Brae,  will  be  particularly  noticed  in  a  subsequent  part  of  the 
memoir. 

The  congregation  of  Stitchell  was  at  that  period  under  the 
pastoral  charge  of  the  Rev.  George  Coventry,  of  whom  he 
never  spoke  but  in  terms  of  affectionate  veneration  and  grat- 
itude.    To    mention,   indeed,  the  name  of  that  most  excellent 


38  REV.    GEORGE    COVENTRY. 

man,  is  to  recall  to  the  minds  of  all  who  knew  him,  every- 
thing in  the  ministerial  character  that  was  pious,  kind,  peace- 
able, lovely,  and  of  good  report.  His  conversation,  his  ser- 
mons, his  prayers,  all  breathed  the  spirit  of  that  Master  who 
was  meek  and  lowly  of  heart.  It  seemed  to  afford  him  pe- 
culiar pleasure  to  communicate  information  to  the  young  from 
his  rich  store  of  knowledge.  By  the  kindly  affections  of  his 
heart  he  was  given  to  hospitality,  and  being  in  easy  circum- 
stances, his  house  became  the  frequent  resort  of  minister?,  and 
of  young  men  during  the  time  of  their  preparatory  course 
for  the  sacred  office.  In  this  latter  class  he  always  took  a  very 
deep  interest,  lending  them  books,  directing  their  studies, 
giving  them  salutary  counsel,  and  in  urgent  cases,  adminis- 
tering pecuniary  aid.  The  obscure  village  where  he  dwelt  ac- 
quired importance  and  interest,  as  the  scene  of  his  pious  la- 
bors, and  works  of  benevolence  and  goodness.  The  writer 
of  these  pages,  after  an  interval  of  thirty-five  years,  still  feels 
his  bosom  glow  with  gratitude  for  the  many  profitable  and 
happy  days  which,  during  the  yearly  vacation  from  college,  he 
was  wont  to  spend  in  his  hospitable  mansion,  listening  to  in- 
structions which  have  proved  more  beneficial  in  his  future  ex- 
perience of  life,  than  all  the  books  he  has  had  occasion  to  pe- 
ruse. He  breathed  out  his  soul  at  Edinburgh,  30th  June, 
1795,  in  lively  hope  of  eternal  blessedness;  his  wonted  heav- 
enly and  placid  temper  still  beaming  on  his  countenance.  The 
habitual  tenor  of  his  life  formed  a  commentary  on  the  words 
of  the  apostle,  whom  he  greatly  resembled  in  the  leading  fea- 
tures of  his  mind, — "  God  is  love ;  and  whosoever  dwelleth  in 
love  dwelleth  in  God,  and  God  in  him." 

Before  adverting  to  the  course  of  study  requisite  to  pre- 
pare young  men  for  entering  on  the  sacred  office,  we  may  re- 
mark, that  in  a  national  institution  for  advancing  the  interests 
of  science  and  literature,  all  possible  facilities  should  be  given 
to  students  of  every  rank  in  society,  and  of  every  religious 
denomination ;  because  a  government  increases  its  own  sta- 
bility in  proportion  as  it  augments  the  happiness  of  its  sub- 
jects by  the  general  diffusion  of  sound  and  wholesome  know- 


UNIVERSITY   EDUCATION.  39 

ledge.  It  is,  therefore,  to  be  regretted,  that  the  two  English 
Universities,  which  have  acquired  such  honorable  celebrity, 
should,  by  the  exclusive  system  on  which  they  are  regulated, 
seal  up  their  precious  treasures  of  instruction  from  all  who 
are  not  members  of  the  established  church,  however  deserving 
as  subjects  of  the  state,  or  eminent  for  their  rank  in  society. 
The  continuance  of  this  distinction,  so  injurious  to  a  consider- 
able part  of  the  population,  and  so  invidious  and  offensive  in 
itself,  can  only  be  ascribed  to  that  jealous  dislike  of  innovation, 
which  often  retains  the  customs  of  a  barbarous  age  for  a  long 
period  of  years  after  they  have  been  generally  reprobated  by 
every  candid  and  well-informed  mind.  The  Scottish  Univer- 
sities, happily,  have  no  exclusive  test  to  prevent  students, 
whatever  be  their  religious  sentiments,  from  enjoying  every 
literary  and  scientific  privilege.  In  consequence  of  this 
liberal  system,  the  students  for  the  holy  ministry,  from  the 
different  bodies  of  dissenters  in  Scotland,  pass  through  the 
same  course  of  education  as  those  who  are  trained  up  for  the 
national  church.  This  state  of  things  has  been  of  incalculable 
advantage  in  elevating  the  character  of  the  Secession  ministers, 
and,  through  them,  of  the  Secession  church,  which  constitutes 
the  great  and  leading  body  in  a  state  of  separation  from  the 
national  establishment.  No  church  will  maintain  respecta- 
bility of  character,  without  a  learned  as  well  as  a  pious  min- 
istry. "The  priest's  lips  should  keep  knowledge,  and  they 
should  seek  the  law  at  his  mouth;  fur  he  is  the  messenger  of 
the  Lord  of  hosts."  llu  whose  office  it  is  to  instruct  others, 
should  be  careful  to  have  his  own  mind  richly  stored  with 
knowledge,  that  as  a  scribe  well  instructed  in  the  kingdom 
of  God,  he  may  bring  forth  out  of  his  treasures  things  both 
new  and  old.  Few  men  would  be  willing  to  employ  a  person 
without  literature  and  experience  as  a  physician  or  a  judge ; 
and  shall  it  be  thought  that  a  man  destitute  of  such  qualifica- 
tions is  fitted  to  explain  the  most  obscure  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture, solve  perplexed  cases  of  conscience,  or  give  such  a  lumi- 
nous, convincing  statement  of  an  abstruse  doctrine  of  theology, 
as  will  satisfy  the  humble  inquirer  after  truth,  and  impart 


40  COURSE    OF    STUDY 

peace  and  consolation  to  the  troubled  heart  ?  There  have 
been,  we  will  admit,  exceptions  to  this  ;  but  these  have  been 
extraordinary  cases,  which  serve  only  to  give  greater  force  to 
the  general  maxim.  No  one,  indeed,  has  been  more  forward 
to  acknowledge  than  those  highly-gifted  individuals  them- 
selves, the  great  disadvantage  they  have  suffered  by  the  de- 
ficiency of  their  early  life  in  literary  acquirements.  How 
shall  he  who  is  a  stranger  to  the  learned  languages  unfold  the 
mind  of  the  sacred  writers,  by  analyzing  the  phrases  of  the 
original,  so  necessary,  in  many  instances,  for  elucidating  the 
meaning,  and  giving  energy  to  the  sentiment  \  How  shall 
he  who  is  not  versed  in  general  knowledge,  unravel  those 
subtle  and  disingenuous  sophisms  by  which  men  of  corrupt 
minds  labor  to  ensnare  the  simple  and  uninformed  ?  or  how 
shall  he  present  such  a  perspicuous  and  well-arranged  ex- 
hibition of  divine  truth  as  will  enable  the  simple-hearted 
Christian  to  give  a  reason  of  the  hope  that  is  in  him,  with 
meekness  and  fear  ?  There  is  no  branch  of  knowledge  from 
which  a  minister  may  not  derive  advantage,  and  which,  if 
he  be  a  pious  man,  he  will  not  diligently  improve,  for  furnish- 
ing himself  with  new  facilities  to  unfold  the  mind  of  the  Spirit 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

The  presbyteries  of  the  Secession  require  attendance  at  the 
University  for  four  years  before  they  take  a  young  man  on 
trial,  in  order  to  his  admission  to  the  study  of  theology ;  and 
he  is  then  subjected  to  a  strict  examination  regarding  his 
knowledge  in  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  logic,  and  natural  and 
moral  philosophy.  By  a  late  arrangement,  the  Synod  have 
appointed  two  theological  tutors  ;  the  one  to  give  instructions 
in  Biblical  literature,  and  criticism  immediately  connected 
with  the  original  languages  in  which  the  Scriptures  were 
written  ;  the  other  to  give  lectures  on  the  doctrines  and 
duties  of  theology,  and  to  hear  and  remark  on  the  discourses 
which  have  been  prescribed  to  the  students  for  fitting  them 
to  become  public  teachers.  The  students  are  required  to  at- 
tend the  first  of  these  professors  two  sessions  of  nine  weeks  ; 
and  the  second,  three  sessions  of  the  same  period.      Dunne 


PRESCRIBED    BY   THE    SECESSION    CHURCH.  41 

the  space  of  five  years,  which  this  course  occupies,  the  presby- 
teries in  whose  bounds  they  reside  are  accustomed  to  assign 
certain  books  for  their  perusal,  on  which  they  are  occasionally 
examined ;  and  to  appoint  one  discourse,  at  least,  to  be  delivered 
before  them  every  year,  to  ascertain  what  progress  they  have 
made  in  their  studies. 

Regarding  the  qualifications  of  the  Secession  ministers,  we 
may  adduce  the  testimony  of  a  minister  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  who,  during  a  long  public  life  of  more  than  half  a 
century,  was  respected  and  honored  by  men  of  all  parties 
and  denominations,  for  a  sound  judgment,  a  candid  mind,  a 
high-toned,  incorruptible  integrity,  and  for  exerting  his  great 
influence  in  the  settlement  of  evangelical  ministers  throughout 
the  country : — "  The  candidates  for  orders  in  the  Secession 
have  at  least  the  means  of  being  as  well  educated  as  the  min- 
isters of  the  establishment.  This  fact,  whatever  additional 
strength  it  may  give  to  the  Secession,  is  of  no  small  import- 
ance to  the  country  at  large ;  for,  from  the  congregations  of 
eight  seceding  ministers,  deposed  by  the  Assembly  in  1740 
(adding  to  them  the  Presbytery  of  Relief,  which  sprung  from 
the  deposition  of  a  single  individual,  many  years  later),  there 
have  risen  up  at  last  nearly  three  hundred  and  sixty  seceding 
meetings,  which,  at  a  moderate  computation,  may,  in  round 
numbers,  contain  a  fourth  or  fifth  part  of  the  population  of 
Scotland. 

"  When  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
kingdom  is  concerned,  it  is  at  least  consolatory  to  believe, 
that  they  have  access  to  instructors  who  are  qualified  to  do 
them  justice.  The  doctrines  now  delivered  in  the  seceding 
meetings  are  in  no  essential  article  different  from  the  instruc- 
tions  received  in  the  established  churches.  Though,  by  being 
more  numerous,  and  always  well  educated,  the  established 
clergy  can  certainly  produce  a  much  greater  number  of  con- 
siderable men  ;  it  cannot  be  denied  that,  among  the  ministers 
belonging  to  the  Secession,  there  are  individuals  not  inferior 
to  the  most  respectable  ministers  of  the  establishment ;  and, 
it  ought  to  be  in  candor  admitted,  that  their  people  are,  by 


42  STUDIES    AT   EDINBURGH. 

a  great  proportion  of  them,  as  well  instructed  as  those  who 
adhere  to  the  church."* 

In  1770,  Alexander  "Waugh  entered  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh, where  he  continued  four  sessions  prior  to  his  theological 
studies.  He  attended  the  Latin  class  taught  by  Mr.  Stewart ; 
the  Greek,  by  Mr.  Hunter  ;  the  logic,  by  Mr.  Stevenson  ;  the 
natural  philosophy,  by  Mr.  Russell ;  the  moral  philosophy,  by 
Dr.  Ferguson  ;  and,  in  a  subsequent  year,  after  he  had  entered 
on  the  study  of  divinity,  he  attended  Dr.  James  Robertson, 
professor  of  Hebrew. 

It  is  to  be  regretted,  that  none  of  his  papers  of  this  period 
can  be  found,  which  might  enable  us  to  trace  the  gradual  de- 
velopment of  his  mind.  We  have  seen  that,  during  his  attend- 
ance at  the  grammar-school,  he  was  greatly  distinguished  for 
his  proficiency  in  Latin  ;  and  this  language  appears  to  have 
been  always  with  him  a  favorite  study.  He  was  familiarly  ac- 
quainted with  the  Latin  classics,  and  particularly  with  Virgil, 
whom  he  was  accustomed  to  quote  in  a  very  appropriate  and 
happy  manner,  and  in  the  illustration  of  whose  rich  and 
glowing  imagery,  his  extensive  general  knowledge  and  fine 
fancy  shone  eminently  forth.  When  thus  engaged  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  young,  there  was  an  absence  of  ostentatious  criti- 
cism, that  removed  all  fear  of  the  examiner,  combined  with  an 
exuberance  of  striking  anecdote  from  ancient  and  modern  his- 
tory, and  of  playful  illustration  of  ancient  manners  by  those 
of  our  own  days,  which  gave  an  interest  and  a  definite  mean- 
ing to  the  text,  that  learned  criticism  alone  generally  fails  to 
impart.  To  his  intinrnte  acquaintance  with  the  Latin  writers 
we  are  to  ascribe,  in  no  inconsiderable  degree,  his  fine  classical 
taste  in  composition,  that  copia  fundi,  that  facility  of  express- 
ing his  sentiments  in  elegant  and  forcible  language,  which 
characterized  him  in  future  life  In  regard  to  Greek,  he  appears 
to  have  restricted  his  study  of  that  beautiful  and  copious  lan- 
guage almost  exclusively  to  the  New  Testament,  which  he 
read  with  great  facility,  at  the  same  time  analyzing  the  words 

*  Life  of  Dr.  Erskine,  by  Sir  Henry  Moncrieff  "Wellwood,  Bart.,  D.D. 
pp.  454,  455. 


DR.    FERGUSON  S    LECTURES.  43 

and  phrases,  so  as  to  bring  forth  the  meaning  and  beauty 
of  the  sacred  writers,  when  expounding  the  Scriptures,  in  a 
manner  which  never  failed  to  leave  a  deep  impression  on  his 
hearers.  In  Hebrew  literature  he  never  attained  to  eminence. 
It  is,  perhaps,  difficult  to  explain  how  the  Hebrew  language, 
in  which  so  considerable  a  part  of  the  Scriptures  was  originally 
written,  has  been  but  little  studied  in  Britain  ;  and  how  we 
should  be  so  greatly  inferior  in  this  department  to  the  Ger- 
mans, who  have  devoted  themselves  to  the  diligent  study  of  a 
language  highly  venerable,  not  merely  for  its  great  antiquity, 
but  for  being  the  first  medium  in  which  the  God  of  heaven 
condescended  to  record  the  all-important  discoveries  of  his 
covenant  mercy  to  sinful  men. 

Mr.  Waugh  discovered  a  strong  predilection  for  moral 
philosophy,  as  it  was  then  taught  by  Dr.  Ferguson  ;  and  it 
appears,  from  the  college  records,  that  he  attended  two  courses 
of  lectures  under  that  celebrated  person,  whose  vivid  eloquence, 
and  powerful  reasoning  on  the  important  topics  which  came 
under  his  review,  had  raised  the  class  to  a  high  degree  of  ce- 
lebrity. The  great  and  leading  fault  of  his  prelections  was, 
that  he  did  not  ground  his  arguments  on  Divine  revelation ; 
the  only  competent  authority  to  which  the  appeal  must  ever  be 
made  in  all  moral  discussions  regarding  the  relations  which 
subsist  betwixt  man  and  his  Creator  and  Judge.  By  keeping 
the  Scriptures  entirely  out  of  the  view  of  his  students,  they 
were  led  to  think  too  favorably  of  the  capabilities  of  human 
nature,  and  less  deeply  to  feel  their  obligations  to  that  atoning 
blood  which  hath  appeased  the  wrath  of  God  for  man's  trans- 
gression, and  to  that  sovereign  and  almighty  grace  which  can 
alone  change  and  renovate  the  faculties  of  our  depraved  and 
fallen  nature.  To  his  lectures,  which  were  published  after  he 
had  resigned  his  chair  in  the  University,  he  prefixed  the  follow- 
ing advertisement : — "  It  may  be  asked,  perhaps,  why  the  pro- 
fessor should  restrict  his  argument,  as  he  has  done,  to  the  mere 
topics  of  natural  religion  and  reason  ?  This  being  the  founda- 
tion of  every  superstructure,  whether  in  morality  or  religion, 
aud  therefore  to  be  separately  treated,  he  considered  as  that 


44 

part  of  the  work  which  was  allotted  to  him.  Farther  in- 
stitutions may  improve,  but  cannot  supersede,  what  the 
Almighty  has  revealed  in  his  works,  and  in  the  suggestions  of 
reason  to  man. 

'  "When  first  we  from  the  teeming  womb  were  brought, 
With  inborn  precepts  then  our  souls  were  fraught.' 

Rowe's  Lucan,  book  ix.  line  984." 

It  is  difficult  to  comprehend  how  a  person  of  Dr.  Ferguson's 
acknowledged  candor  should  have  satisfied  his  mind  with  such 
reasoning ;  as  if  the  founders  of  a  class  of  moral  philosophy  in 
a  Christian  university  could  have  intended  that  the  students 
should  rest  contented  with  the  imperfect  discoveries  of  natural 
reason  regarding  the  perfections  of  the  Deity,  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  the  nature  of  virtue  and  true  happiness — the  most 
important  discussions  which  can  interest  or  agitate  the  human 
mind ; — as  if  the  Scriptures  had  never  been  written,  and  stu- 
dents had  been  listening  to  the  prelections  of  Socrates  or 
Cicero — men,  it  may  be  observed,  who  would  have  gratefully 
availed  themselves  in  illustrating  such  topics,  of  the  superior 
light  of  Divine  revelation,  had  that  invaluable  boon  been  com- 
municated to  them. 

Dr.  Paley,  in  his  preface  to  a  course  of  lectures  on  moral  and 
political  philosophy,  which  he  delivered  in  the  University  of 
Cambridge,  nearly  at  the  same  time,  justly  reprobates  those 
teachers  who  divide  too  much  the  law  of  nature  from  the  pre- 
cepts of  revelation,  and  industriously  decline  the  mention  of 
Scripture  authorities,  as  belonging  to  a  different  province.  In 
support  of  this  opinion,  he  quotes,  with  high  approbation,  the 
following  sentiment  of  Dr.  Johnson's  : — "  When  the  obligations 
of  morality  are  taught,"  says  a  pious  and  celebrated  writer, 
"  let  the  sanctions  of  Christianity  never  be  forgotten,  by  which 
it  will  be  shown  that  they  give  strength  and  lustre  to  each 
other;  religion  will  appear  to  be  the  voice  of  reason,  and 
morality  will  be  the  will  of  God." 

About  this  period  a  confidential  correspondence  commenced 
betwixt  Alexander  Waugh    and   a  young  man  of  congenial 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    GEORGE    GRAHAM.  45 

temper,  who  then  belonged  to  a  mercantile  house  in  Berwick, 
and  afterwards  settled  in  the  West  Indies.  He  appears  to  have 
been  animated  by  a  spirit  of  fervent  piety,  and  to  have  possessed 
mental  accomplishments  greatly  superior  to  his  station  in  life. 
We  insert  the  two  following  letters  as  a  specimen  of  the  dispo- 
sitions of  mind  which  characterized  both  the  writer  and  the  in- 
dividual to  whom  they  are  addressed  : — 

"  TO   MR.    ALEXANDER   WAUGH,   CALDRON-BRAE. 

Berwick,  August  18,  1773. 
"  Dear  Sir, — As  I  have  not  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  at 
Berwick,  will  you  allow  me  to  request  of  you,  that  an  epistolary 
correspondence  may  take  place  during  the  intervals  of  seeing 
one  another  ?  It  would  of  all  things  be  very  grateful  to  me. — 
Mrs.  Johnston  acquaints  me  that  you  propose  attending  the 
University  another  season.  I  flatter  myself  it  is  not  solely  with 
a  view  of  venerating  the  polite  arts ;  but  that  you  intend  dedi- 
cating these  jewels  borrowed  from  the  Egyptians,  to  the  build- 
ing of  the  house  of  the  Lord.  My  dear  Sir,  see  you  get  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  the  Lord  of  the  vineyard,  previously  to 
your  entering  as  a  laborer.  It  will  sweeten  the  work  vastly, 
both  to  yourself  and  others,  and  render  it  pleasant  and  profit- 
able. Being  in  haste,  I  conclude  with  compliments  to  your 
father,  mother,  and  brother,  and  am,  dear  Sir,  your  sincere  well- 
wisher, 

"George  Graham." 

"to  mr.  alexander  waugh,  edinburgh. 

"Berwick,  Jan.  1,  1774. 
"  My  Dear  Sir, — May  you  enumerate  many  happy  revolutions 
of  this  season !  May  you  long  be  preserved  an  ornament  to  re- 
ligion, a  blessing  to  friends  and  connexions,  a  useful  member  of 
society,  and,  after  a  few  pre-reqtiisites,  a  faithful  and  successful 
laborer  in  the  Christian  church ;  and,  at  last,  in  a  good  old 
age,  may  you  exchange  a  hoary  head  for  an  unfading  crown  of 
glory,  books  and  symbols,  faith  and  hope,  for  palms  of  victory, 
immediate  vision,  and  full,  satisfactory  fruition !  Unseasonable 
compliments  these  to  our  contemporary  Lorcnzos !  —  but  what 
mean   our   wishing  happy    new   years,  unless   most  part  of  the 


46       CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  GEORGE  GRAHAM. 

above  be  implied  ?  '  Here  is  firm  footing,  here  is  solid  rock ;  all 
is  sea  besides.'  It  would  certainly  be  a  laudable  practice,  were 
we  to  anticipate,  in  imagination,  what  Charles  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many did  really  in  every  circumstance, — I  mean  the  solemnizing 
of  our  own  funeral  while  in  life.  We  should  thus  make  death 
familiar  to  our  minds,  although  he  be  the  king  of  terrors,  and 
stimulate  ourselves  to  converse  with  our  past  hours,  and  ask 
them  what  report  they  bore  to  heaven,  and  how  they  might 
have  borne  more  welcome  news.  But,  alas,  how  epidemical  is 
this  distemper ! — '  all  men  think  all  men  mortal  but  themselves.' 
I  remember  (for  although  very  young  at  the  time,  I  never  could 
eradicate  the  presumptuous  speech  out  of  my  mind)  that  a  young 
gentleman,  when  writing,  '  Jan.  2,  1762,'  thus  addressed  one  Mr. 
M'Donald,  of  Leith,  a  surgeon,  a  young  man  more  than  six  feet 
high,  and  stout  in  proportion,  '  Tammy  M'Donald,  it  is  probable 
we  shall  be  in  our  graves  before  1772.'  '  Shall  we  ?' said  the 
person  addressed :  '  it  will  be  a  grievious  disappointment  if  we 
be  !'  Disappointed  he  was ;  but  whether  the  event  deserved 
the  epithet  he  bestowed  on  it,  is  not  rny  province  to  determine  ; 
for  early  in  1769  he  gave  up  the  ghost,  leaving  a  young  widow. 
Uncertain  is  life,  and  happy  they  that  have  nothing  to  do  but 
to  die ;  therefore,  my  dear  friends,  while  others  are  murdering 
time  in  unlawful  pastimes,  let  us  be  inquiring  into  our  state  be- 
fore God,  and  asking  ourselves  what  progress  we  have  made  in 
our  Christian  course.  As  another  year,  'that  lately  smiled,  is 
drowned  in  that  great  deep  that  nothing  disembogues;'  so  let 
us  remember,  that  '  the  spirit  walks  of  every  day  deceased,  and 
smiles  an  angel,  or  a  fury  frowns.'  I  do  not  tender  these  as  ad- 
monitions to  you,  since  I  have  no  doubt  but  your  exercise  in 
practice  exceeds  this  theorem  considerably.  This  is  only  a  faint  in- 
timation that,  for  the  future,  I  intend  corresponding  with  you  as  a 
Christian,  and  not  as  a  scholar  ;  for  while  you  are  associated  with 
men  of  learning  and  science,  I  by  reason  of  the  imbecility  of  my  un- 
derstanding and  circumvening  mists  of  ignorance,  must  stand  at  the 
foot  of  Parnassus  friendless." 


After  continuing  four  years  at  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh, Mr.  Waugh  was  examined  by  the  Presbytery  regard- 
ing his  proficiency  in  philosophy  and  the  learned  languages, 
in  order  to  his  admission  to  the  study  of  divinity,  which  he 


STUDY    OF    DIVINITY.  47 

commenced  in  August,  1774,  under  the  tuition  of  the  Rev. 
John  Brown  of  Haddington,  the  well-known  author  of  "  An- 
notations on  the  Bible,"  and  many  other  theological  works, 
which  discover  a  deep  acquaintance  with  the  Scriptures,  and  a 
laborious  research  into  the  history  of  the  church. 

The  following  notices  of  the  mode  of  theological  instruction 
pursued  by  this  eminent  man  (with  which  we  have  been  kindly 
furnished  by  two  of  his  sons,  who  have  long  been  faithful  and 
zealqus  laborers  in  the  vineyard  of  Christ),  will,  we  conceive,  be 
found  interesting  to  most  of  our  readers. 

In  the  early  part  of  his  ministry,  he  preached  catechetical 
sermons,  in  the  order  of  the  Shorter  Catechism  and  Confession 
of  Faith.  From  these  he  formed  the  first  edition  of  his  lectures 
to  his  students,  which,  after  writing  twice  or  thrice  himself, 
he  caused  the  students  to  write  also.  He  composed  his  "  Cases 
of  Conscience,"  published  some  time  ago,  first  for  his  own  use, 
and  then  employed  them  in  instructing  his  students;  also 
his  "  Letters  on  the  Behavior  of  Ministers,  and  on  Gospel 
Preaching."  The  two  latter  he  also  caused  the  students  to 
transcribe. 

For  some  time  the  term  of  study  was  four  years  ;  but  by 
order  of  the  Synod  it  was  extended  to  five  years.  He  was 
particularly  anxious  that  the  students  should  be  present  at 
the  commencement  of  the  session,  and  remain  all  the  time. 
The  discourses  he  assigned  them  were,  a  homily  for  the  first 
war ;  a  critical  discourse  on  a  passage  of  the  Greek  Testa- 
ment, with  a  lecture,  for  the  second  :  for  each  of  the  other 
years  a  lecture  and  a  popular  sermon,  the  latter  being  usually 
delivered  in  public.  The  students  were  accustomed  to  make 
criticisms  on  the  discourses,  after  which  the  professor  gave 
his  own  remarks.  The  students  carefully  committed  to  mem- 
ory several  pages  of  the  "  System  of  Divinity,"  and  of  the 
"  Cases  of  Conscience,"  with  the  Scriptures  referred  to ;  and 
he  examined  them  on  these  every  forenoon,  and  made  obser- 
vations on  the  passages  of  Scripture.  Iu  the  evenings  lie 
employed  an  hour  in  reading  his  Church  History  to  them. 
On  the  Wednesday  afternoon  the  students  formed  themselves 


48  REV.   JOHN    BROWN. 

into  a  debating  society,  and  maintained  an  argument  regard- 
ing orthodox  and  heterodox  doctrines.  On  the  Saturday 
afternoon  a  prayer-meeting  was  held.  With  regard  to  per- 
sonal religion,  the  professor  was  particularly  urgent  in  im- 
pressing it  on  their  minds,  as  a  matter  of  the  greatest  magni- 
tude, and  of  indispensable  necessity.  He  was  accustomed 
to  read  the  practical  reflections  in  the  System  with  peculiar 
earnestness  of  manner,  and  took  every  opportunity,  in  the 
class  and  elsewhere,  to  exhort  them  to  practical  godliness. 
The  "Reflections  of  a  Candidate  for  the  Ministerial  Office," 
now  printed  in  his  "  Remains,"  and  the  "  Christian  Student 
and  Pastor,"  were  prepared  with  a  particular  view  to  their  in- 
struction. 

He  carefully  inquired  after  their  private  conduct  during 
the  time  of  the  session,  and  admonished  or  rebuked  as  he  saw 
cause.  This  was  done,  however,  so  privately  that  none  but 
the  offender  knew  of  it.  Though  his  own  finances  were  but 
small,  he  assisted  those  who,  through  poverty,  would  have 
been  unable  to  continue  all  the  session.  He  was  anxious  that 
his  students  should  improve  in  the  Hebrew,  and  drew  up  a 
short  Grammar  and  Vocabulary  to  aid  them  in  their  study  of 
a  language  of  such  high  importance  to  the  right  understand- 
ing of  the  Scriptures.  He  was  among  them  as  a  father 
among  his  children :  he  loved  them,  and  studied  their  good ; 
and  they  loved  him  and  regarded  his  counsel.  No  time  of 
the  year  was  so  pleasant,  either  to  the  professor  or  the  stu- 
dents, as  the  two  months  of  their  attendance  at  the  divinity 
hall. 

On  the  last  day  of  the  session  his  advices  were  peculiarly 
solemn  and  impressive,  as  will  appear  from  the  following  spe- 
cimen, which  has  been  kindly  sent  us  by  one  of  his  pupils ; 
— u  Thinking  this  morning  on  your  departure,  two  passages 
of  Scripture  came  to  my  mind,  and  you  would  do  well  to 
take  them  into  your  serious  consideration.  'Have  not  I 
chosen  you  twelve,  and  one  of  you  is  a  devil  V  One  may  be 
called  to  special  service,  may  fill  a  public  station  in  the 
church,  may  be  a  preacher,  may  go  abroad  into  the  world 


STUDY    OF    DIVLNITY.  49 

and  address  people  on  things  of  deep  and  everlasting  impor- 
tance, and  yet  be  a  devil ;  may  be  under  the  power  of  Satan, 
in  a  state  of  enmity  against  God,  may  be  a  traitor  at  heart, 
and  act  the  part  of  an  open  traitor  at  last,  may  betray  the 
Master  he  professed  to  serve,  and  come  to  shame  and  dis- 
grace. Jesus  knows  all  things  ;  he  searches  the  heart,  and 
tries  the  reins  of  the  children  of  men :  what  state  you  are  in, 
what  are  the  reigning  principles  in  your  breasts,  what  are 
the  motives  you  are  influenced  by,  and  what  the  ends  you 
have  in  view ;  whether  you  are  indeed  what  you  profess,  and 
what  your  outward  appearance  would  indicate, — all  is  known 
to  him.  To  commend  a  Saviour  one  has  no  love  for ;  to 
preach  a  Gospel  one  does  not  believe  ;  to  point  out  the  way 
to  heaven,  and  never  to  have  taken  one  step  in  that  way ;  to 
enforce  a  saving  acquaintance  with  religion,  and  to  be  an  en- 
tire stranger  to  it  one's  self,  how  sad,  how  preposterous  ! 
Tremble,  O  my  soul,  at  the  thought,  still  more  at  the  thing ! 
Better  follow  the  meanest  occupation,  than  to  enter  into  the 
holy  ministry  solely  or  chiefly  to  serve  some  secular,  some 
selfish  design.  While  I  would  be  far  from  setting  limits  to  the 
Divine  sovereignty,  I  am  afraid  it  but  seldom  happens  that  a 
person  is  converted  after  he  has  become  a  preacher.  Was 
there  a  Judas,  a  devil  among  the  twelve  ? — what  if  there  should 
be  one  for  every  twelve  among  you  ?  Lord,  is  it  I ;  is  it  I ; 
is  it  I  ? 

"  The  other  passage  comes  more  closely  home,  and  is  still 
more  alarming.  '  And  five  of  them  were  wise,  and  five  were 
foolish.'  Is  it  only  one  half  of  the  number  here  present  that 
are  wise,  that  are  truly  serious,  prudent,  and  thoughtful, 
wise  unto  salvation,  that  are  savingly  instructed  in  the  mys- 
teries of  salvation,  in  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom,  in  whom 
Christ  is  found,  and  in  whose  hearts  he  dwells  by  faith,  who 
have  felt  his  Gospel  to  be  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom 
of  God,  who  have  taken  him  for  their  only  Lord  and  King, 
and  have  given  themselves  unto  him  ?  Are  there  so  many 
of  an  opposite  character,  foolish,  mere  nominal  Christians,  in 
the  >ame  state  in  which   you  were   boru  ;   who,  whatever   ligkt 

-3 


50  REV.    JOHN    BROWN. 

you  may  have  in  your  heads,  have  no  saving  grace  in  your 
hearts  ?  And  is  the  Bridegroom  coining  ?  will  he  come 
quickly,  come  at  an  hour  that  ye  think  not  ?  and  shall  they 
that  are  ready  enter  in  and  the  door  be  shut,  and  you  stand 
without  and  cry  for  admittance,  but  cry  in  vain?  How 
dreadful  the  thought,  how  fearful  the  issue  !  I  would  be  far, 
very  far,  from  judging  uncharitably  of  you  ;  but  I  know  the 
deceitfulness  of  the  human  heart.  Surely  they  who  propose 
to  undertake  an  office,  the  design  of  which  is  to  win  souls, 
had  need  to  be  convinced,  deeply  convinced,  about  their  own 
souls." 

The  most  profound  silence  reigned  while  from  these  passages 
he  addressed  the  students  :  all  were  dissolved  in  tears.  The 
language,  the  tone,  the  general  manner,  every  circumstance  was 
calculated  to  make  a  deep  impression. 

This  eminently  faithful  man,  after  laboring  for  twenty 
years  with  indefatigable  zeal  in  training  up  the  youth  of  the 
Associate  Synod  for  the  Christian  ministry,  died  at  Hadding- 
ton, in  1787.  With  respect  to  his  own  ministry,  it  has  been 
observed,  that  "  though  his  learning  was  considerable,  he 
never  showed  it  in  the  pulpit,  except  by  bringing  down  the 
great  truths  of  God  to  the  level  of  common  capacities."  He 
sometimes  used  to  repeat  to  his  acquaintances  the  saying  of 
the  great  Usher,  "  It  will  take  all  our  learning  to  make 
things  plain."  It  is  the  testimony  of  an  English  divine,  who 
heard  him  for  some  time  about  the  year  1770,  that  his  grave 
appearance  in  the  pulpit,  and  his  solemn,  weighty,  and  ener- 
getic manner  of  speaking,  used  to  affect  him  very  much. 
"  Certainly,"  he  adds,  "  his  preaching  was  close,  and  his  ad- 
dress to  the  conscience  pungent.  Like  his  Lord  and  Master, 
he  spake  with  authority  and  hallowed  pathos,  having  tasted 
the  sweetness  and   felt  the  power   of  what   he   delivered."* 

*  Dr.  Waugh  long  afterwards  used  to  mention  the  following  anec 
dote  of  his  venerable  instructor,  which  had  occurred  within  his  own 
knowledge  : — It  happened  that  at  some  public  solemnity,  where  "  an 
infidel  blade"  was  one  of  the  audience,  Mr.  Brown  was  preceded  in 
ministerial  duty  by  an  ambitious  young  man,  who  delivered  a  very 


STUDY    OF    DIVINITY.  51 

Iii  his  <>\vii  congregation,  small  as  it  was,  a  number  claimed  him 
for  their  spiritual  father  :  and  others  acknowledged  him  to  be 
the  helper  of  their  faith  and  joy.  Nor  was  it  only  at  home 
that  he  was  instrumental  in  doing  good  to  souls.  In  various 
parts  of  the  country,  where  he  had  occasion  to  preach,  there 
were  seals  of  his  ministry,  who  will  be  his  joy  and  his  crown  in 
the  day  of  Christ.  We  conclude  our  account  of  this  truly  great 
and  good  man,  with  the  following  extract  from  his  "  Select  Re- 
mains,''  to  which  we  are  indebted  for  some  of  the  above  ob- 
servations. "  Now  after  near  forty  years'  preaching  of  Christ, 
and  his  great  and  sweet  salvation,  I  think  that  I  would  rather 
beg  my  bread  all  the  laboring  days  of  the  week,  for  an  oppor- 
tunity of  publishing  the  Gospel  on  the  Sabbath  to  an  assembly 
of  sinful  men,  than,  without  such  a  privilege,  enjoy  the  richest 
possessions  on  earth.  By  the  Gospel  do  men  live,  and  in  it  is 
the  life  of  my  soul." 

But  to  revert  to  the  subject  of  this  memoir :  The  conduct  and 
character  of  Alexander  Waugh,  during  the  period  of  his  studies 
at  the  University  and  divinity  hall,  are  so  well  described  in  the 
following  memoranda,  with  which  we  have  been  favored  by 
some  of  his  most  esteemed  fellow-students,  that  we  cannot  bet- 
ter convey  a  picture  of  the  moral  aspect  of  his  mind  at  that 
time  than  in  the  words  of  the  writers : — 

"It  was  about  17 73,"  says  one  of  his  early  friends,  "that 
our  first  acquaintance  commenced,  being  my  third  year  at 
the  University,  and  his  second.  It  was  promoted  by  his 
great  anxiety  to  acquire  knowledge,  by  his  open  and  unsus- 
picious character,  and  by  that  kindness  of  heart  which  was 
particularly  conspicuous,  and  was  his  ornament  through  life. 
It  cannot  be  supposed  that  we  reasoned  with  sagacity  on 
each  other's  characters ;  but  it  has  been,  and  is,  a  pleasing 
reflection,  that  I  then  obtained,  and  I  believe  never  lost,  his 

eloquent  and  florid  address — the  old  divine  following  in  one  equally 
remarkable  for  its  simplicity  and  earnestness.  "  The  first  preacher," 
said  the  sceptic  to  one  of  his  friends,  "  spoke  as  if  he  did  not  believe 
what  he  said :  the  latter,  as  if  he  was  conscious  that  the  Son  of  God 
stood  at  his  elbow." 


52  REV.   JOHN   BROWN. 

affections.  His  amusements  were  always  innocent,  though 
lively  ;  and  if  he  at  any  time  appeared  to  display  inattention  to 
the  feelings  of  others,  this  proceeded  solely  from  an  exuberant 
flow  of  animal  spirits,  and  never  from  insensibility  to  what 
others  felt.  One  feeling  I  saw  was  strong:  in  him :  he  was 
evidently  actuated  by  an  ardent  desire  to  attain  excellence ; 
not  a  mere  vulgar  ambition  to  make  a  show,  or  to  exhibit  his 
superiority  over  others,  but  to  advance  forward  to  higher  at- 
tainments. 

"After  leaving  the  University,  at  the  vacation,  we  had 
no  intercourse  till  about  eighteen  months  after,  when  we  met 
at  Haddington,  under  Mr.  Brown,  where  we  studied  divinity 
for  five  sessions,  of  two  months  each.  Then  our  intimacy 
was  revived  and  increased  :  it  was  my  second  session,  and 
his  first.  It  was  then  that  I  could  discern,  and  I  still  well 
recollect,  those  solid  religious  principles  and  solemn  views  by 
which  he  was  actuated.  With  all  his  flow  of  animal  spir- 
its, he  not  only  showed  a  serious  mind,  but  that  warm 
heart,  and  those  unpresuming  and  pious  affections,  and  open, 
benevolent  feelings,  which  afterwards  so  eminently  shone  in 
him. 

"I  still  recollect  the  agitation  of  his  mind,  under  a  dis- 
couraging criticism  of  his  first  discourse,  by  Mr.  Brown :  it  was 
a  homily  on  Rom.  viii.  2.  That  agitation  was  confided  to  me 
alone,  and  I  found  it  difficult  to  prevail  on  him  to  pursue 
his  theological  studies,  which  in  the  end  have  been  so  ser- 
viceable to  the  interests  of  religion.  The  circumstance  arose 
from  an  unfavorable  opinion  formed  by  Mr.  Brown  of  the 
system  of  moral  philosophy  taught  by  Dr.  Ferguson — a  sys- 
tem which  Mr.  Waugh  and  I  had  studied  with  great  attention, 
although  our  young  minds  might  be  incapable  of  doing- 
full  justice  to  it.  By  his  continuing  in  attendance  on  Mr. 
Brown  (which  I  soon  prevailed  on  him  to  persevere  in),  the 
suspicion  respecting  his  theological  principles  was  quickly  eradi- 
cated from  the  discerning  mind  of  that  eminent  and  judicious 
instructor. 

"After   this,   our   intimacy   continued,    nut   only   at   Had- 


STUDY    OF    DIVINITY.  53 

dington,  but  when  we  returned  to  our  parents,  being  kept 
up  by  letters.  In  one  of  the  years  of  our  attendance  on  Mr. 
Brown,  before  leaving  Haddington,  we  agreed  to  spend  the 
winter  in  Edinburgh  together,  for  our  mutual  improvement. 
The  usual  course  of  academical  studies  was  finished,  but  each 
feeing  a  class,  we  were  entitled  to  the  library;  and  living 
in  the  same  house,  and  having  the  same  parlor,  we  employed 
our  hours  as  we  thought  most  useful  for  ourselves.  One 
portion  of  our  time  was  occupied  in  reading  one  or  two  chap- 
ters of  the  New  Testament,  in  Greek,  daily,  and  making  re- 
marks on  the  expressive  words ;  a  line  of  study  in  which  he 
advanced  much  farther  afterwards  under  Dr.  Campbell,  of  Aber- 
deen, whose  prelections  he  attended  one  season ;  and  of  the  ad- 
vantage of  v/hose  instructions  he  always  spoke  with  much  esteem 
and  gratitude.  Another  of  our  chief  employments  was  reading 
and  remarking  on  books  of  taste,  for  the  purpose  of  forming 
the  habit  of  composition.  Permit  me  to  remark,  that  I  was 
struck  with  an  expression  used  upon  his  death-bed,  to  which  I  had 
that  winter  turned  his  attention,  in  Ossian's  sublime  address  to 
the  sun, — 'Age  is  dark  and  unlovely.'  That  address  had  left 
an  abiding  impression  on  his  mind,  although  Ossian  was  no  fa- 
vorite with  him." 

We  are  informed  by  another  contemporary,  "  that  his  first 
discourse  at  Haddington  was  a  mere  philosophical  essay,  at 
which  the  professor  and  students  were  extremely  grieved  ;  but 
that  even  then  he  manifested  that  amiable  disposition  for  which, 
in  after  life,  he  was  so  distinguished.  When  Mr.  Brown  said, 
with  much  concern,  'I  hope  I  shall  never  hear  such  a  dis- 
course again  in  this  place,'  Mr.  Waugh  expressed  his  sorrow  at 
giving  him  uneasiness.  The  second  year  of  his  attendance,  there 
appeared  a  remarkable  change  on  his  mind,  and  the  professor 
ever  afterwards  esteemed  him  very  highly,  and  was  accustomed 
to  use  great  familiarities  with  him,  both  in  conversation  and  in 
writing ;  and  so  far  wras  he,  on  the  other  hand,  from  feeling  re- 
sentment, that  he  never  spoke  of  Mr.  Brown  but  in  terms  of 
veneration  and  gratitude." 

"  Let  the  righteous  smite  me,"  saith  David,  "  it  shall  be  a 


54  STUDIES    AT    ABERDEEN. 

kindness  ;  and  let  him  reprove  me,  it  shall  be  an  excellent  oil, 
•which  shall  not  break  my  head."  The  professor's  faithful 
and  well-timed  admonition  produced  most  salutary  effects. 
It  shook  Mr.  Waugh's  confidence  in  Dr.  Ferguson's  specula- 
tions on  human  nature,  on  which  we  have  taken  the  liberty 
to  animadvert,  and  feelingly  taught  him  the  deep  importance 
of  the  apostolic  caution,  "Beware  lest  any  man  spoil  you 
through  philosophy  and  vain  deceit,  after  the  tradition  of 
men,  and  the  rudiments  of  the  world,  and  not  after  Christ." 
He  now  studied  the  Scriptures  with  close  attention,  and  re- 
solved to  adopt  no  theological  sentiments  but  such  as  were 
derived  from  the  pure  and  uncontaminated  fountain  of  Divine 
truth.  Henceforth  we  behold  him,  in  every  subsequent 
period,  sitting  at  the  feet  of  the  great  Master  of  Israel,  and 
listening  with  meekness  and  humility  to  the  words  of  grace 
and  life  that  fell  from  his  lips.  His  philosophy,  instead  of 
leading  him  again  into  devious  paths,  now  became  subsidiary 
to  the  great  object  which  constituted  its  chief  value,  by  en- 
abling him  to  illustrate,  in  a  more  forcible  manner,  those  all- 
important  truths  which  the  Scriptures  alone  reveal,  and  the 
knowledge  of  which  is  necessary  to  make  men  wise  unto  eternal 
life. 

In  177*7  he  repaired  to  the  university  of  Aberdeen,  and 
attended,  for  a  session,  the  lectures  of  Dr.  Beattie,  professor 
of  moral  philosophy,  and  of  Dr.  Campbell,  professor  of  di- 
vinity in  the  Marischal  College.  Both  these  eminent  men 
had  at  this  time  acquired  merited  celebrity  by  their  pre- 
lections in  their  college,  and  by  their  writings  in  defence 
of  Christianity  against  the  sophistry  of  David  Hume,  who 
degraded  his  acuteness  of  mind  and  his  high  powers  of  style, 
by  abetting  principles  equally  hostile  to  natural  as  to  re- 
vealed religion.  Dr.  Campbell  had  distinguished  himself  in 
the  cause  of  religion  by  his  "  Essay  on  Miracles,"  one  of  the 
most  acute  and  convincing  treatises  on  that  great  and 
fundamental  doctrine  of  revealed  religion  that  has  ever  ap- 
peared. His  prelections  were  highly  esteemed  for  the  just 
and  original  views  which  they  afforded  of  Divine  truth,  per- 


STUDY    OP    DIVINITY.  55 

spicuously  expressed,  and  ably  illustrated  by  criticisms  on  the 
Greek,  Hebrew,  and  Chaldaic  languages,  with  all  of  which  he 
was  familiarly  acquainted.  The  high  respect  in  which  he  was 
held  as  a  Biblical  scholar,  has  been  amply  justified  by  the 
publication  of  his  Translation  of  the  Four  Gospels,  with  the 
accompanying  Dissertations, — a  work  of  profound  erudition,  cal- 
culated to  raise  the  fame  of  his  countrymen  in  this  department 
of  literature.  We  insert  the  following  short  specimen  of  the 
manner  in  which  this  learned  and  able  divine  was  accustomed 
to  instruct  the  theological  students  who  attended  his  class : — 

"  Gentlemen,  the  nature  of  my  office  has  been  much  misunderstood. 
It  is  supposed,  that  I  am  to  teach  you  everything  connected  with 
the  study  of  divinity.  I  tell  ye  honestly  that  I  am  to  teach  you  noth- 
ing. Ye  are  not  schoolboys ; — ye  are  young  men  who  have  finished 
your  courses  of  philosophy,  and  ye  are  no  longer  to  be  treated  as  if 
ye  were  at  school.  Therefore,  I  repeat  it,  I  am  to  teach  you  noth- 
ing ;  but,  by  the  grace  of  God,  I  will  assist  you  to  teach  yourselves 
every  thing. 

"  Begin  with  studying  the  Scriptures  in  the  original  languages ; 
attend  carefully  to  the  distinction,  that  should  always  be  made, 
between  classical  or  pure  Greek,  and  the  Greek  of  the  Septuagint 
and  Testament,  where  the  words,  taken  separately,  are  pure  Greek, 
but  where  the  idiom  of  the  language,  and  even  the  acceptation  of 
many  of  the  words,  is  derived  from  the  Hebrew,  the  Chaldaic, 
or  the  Syriac.  Be  acquainted  with  the  civil  history,  the  man- 
ners and  customs  of  ancient  times  and  nations,  especially  with 
that  of  the  Jews,  where  the  reading  of  Josephus  will  often  be 
useful.  But  whatever  books  you  read  occasionally,  read  the 
Scriptures  frequently.  Mark  the  different  passages  which  you 
do  not  understand,  read  them  with  patience,  not  being  too 
anxious  to  understand  everything  at  the  first  reading  over; 
but  persevere,  and  read  the  Scriptures  in  the  original  a  second 
and  a  third  time;  ami,  without  consulting  any  commentator, 
those  difficult  passages  will  always  become  fewer  as  your  knowl- 
edge increases.  Read  the  Scriptures  also  with  modesty, 
leither  being  too  full  of  yourself,  nor  supposing  that  human 
•eason  can  always  comprehend  divine  mysteries ;  and  read  them 
lways  with  fervent  prayer  to  God,  the  source  of  wisdom,  and 
ight,  that  he  would   assist   and  direct  you  in  your  researches 


56  DR.    BEATTIE. 

after  truth.  Do  not  complain  that  you  want  books,  when  you 
have  the  Scriptures  themselves  in  the  original  languages.  If  you 
have  a  Hebrew  Bible,  a  Septuagint,  and  a  Greek  New  Testament, 
you  have  the  most  necessary  and  the  most  useful  of  all  books  to 
a  Christian  divine.  Read  carefully  all  the  versions  which  are 
given  of  disputed  passages;  make  much  use  of  versions,  and 
compare  them  all  carefully  with  the  original.  Read  the  Vulgate, 
though  a  translation  authorized  by  the  Romish  Church,  as  well 
as  the  versions  of  individuals,  such  as  Castalio,  Beza,  Junius, 
and  Tremellius ;  and  also  Houbigant,  if  you  have  access  to  his  trans- 
lation. You  cannot  be  hurt  by  reading  versions,  and  comparing 
them  with  the  original.  But  put  no  confidence  in  commentators  : 
consult  them  sparingly :  never  use  them  till  the  last,  and  then  use 
them  only  as  dictionaries.  In  this  view,  however,  read  commenta- 
tors of  all  parties ;  and  judge  of  them  more  from  their  freedom  of 
thought,  abilities,  and  erudition,  than  from  considering  to  what  party 
they  belong."  * 

Dr.  Beattie  had  also,  prior  to  this  period,  published  his 
"  Essay  on  the  Nature  and  Immutability  of  Truth,  in  op- 
position to  Sophistry  and  Scepticism ;"  a  work  exceedingly 
popular  at  that  time,  and  still  deserving  of  attention  for  its 
argument  and  most  laudable  object.  Regarding  the  man- 
ner in  which,  as  a  professor,  he  communicated  instruction  to 
his  students,  his  amiable  biographer  observes :  "  There  is  one 
excellence  of  Dr.  Beattie's  lectures  on  moral  philosophy,  on 
which  I  cannot  but  dwell  with  peculiar  emphasis,  and  that  is 
his  happy  manner  of  fortifying  his  arguments  from  natural  re- 
ligion on  the  most  important  points,  by  the  aid  of  revelation. 
"While  he  details  with  precision  the  proofs  which  natural  rea- 
son alone  affords,  he  never  omits  any  proper  opportunity  of 
appealing  to  revelation  in  support  of  his  doctrine ;  sometimes 
in  the  very  words  of  Scripture,  at  other  times  by  a  general 
reference  to  the  subject,  as  it  is  to  be  learned  there ;  thus 
making  them  mutually  support  and  strengthen  each  other, 
as  ought  ever  to  be  the  study  of  every  teacher  of  ethics. 
Dr.  Beattie  is,  therefore,  justly  entitled   to  the  most  distin- 

*  Life  of  Dr.  Campbell,  prefixed  to  his  Lectures  on  Church  History, 
by  Dr.  Skene  Keith. 


moral   rniLOSoriiv.  57 

guished  of  all  appellations,  that  of  a  Christian  moral  philoso- 
pher. In  his  second  chapter  of  Natural  Theology,  speaking 
of  the  Divine  attributes,  he  says,  'revelation  gives  such  a 
display  of  the  Divine  goodness,  as  must  fill  us  with  most 
ardent  gratitude  and  adoration ;  for  in  it  we  find  that  God 
has  put  it  in  our  power,  notwithstanding  our  degeneracy  and 
un worthiness,  to  be  happy  both  in  this  world  and  forever, — 
a  hope  which  reason  alone  could  never  have  permitted  us  to 
entertain  on  any  ground  of  certainty.  And  here  we  may 
repeat,  that  although  the  right  use  of  reason  supplies  our 
first  notions  of  the  Divine  nature,  yet  it  is  from  revelation 
that  we  receive  those  distinct  ideas  of  his  attributes  and  prov- 
idence which  are  the  foundation  of  our  dearest  hopes.  The 
most  enlightened  of  the  heathen  had  no  certain  knowledge  of 
his  unity,  spirituality,  eternity,  wisdom,  justice,  or  mercy, 
and,  by  consequence,  could  never  contrive  a  comfortable  sys- 
tem of  natural  religion,  as  Socrates,  the  wisest  of  them,  ac- 
knowledged.' 

"  Discoursing  on  the  nature  of  virtue,  Dr.  Beattie  says  :  '  These 
speculations  might  lead  into  a  labyrinth  of  perplexity,  if  it 
were  not  for  what  revelation  declares  concerning  the  Divine  gov- 
ernment. It  declares  that  man  may  expect,  on  the  performance 
of  certain  conditions,  not  only  pardon,  but  everlasting  happi- 
ness, not  on  account  of  his  own  merit,  which  in  the  sight  of 
God  is  nothing,  but  on  account  of  the  infinite  merits  of  the  Re- 
deemer, who,  descending  from  the  height  of  glory,  voluntarily 
underwent  the  punishment  due  to  sin,  and  thus  obtained  those 
high  privileges  for  as  many  as  should  comply  with  the  terms 
announced  by  him  to  mankind.' 

"  On  the  subject  of  public  worship,  he  says  :  '  These  consider- 
ations alone  would  recommend  external  worship  as  a  most  excel- 
lent means  of  improving  our  moral  nature  ;  but  Christians  know 
farther,  that  this  duty  is  expressly  commanded,  and  that  par- 
ticular blessings  are  promised  to  the  devout  performance  of  it. 
In  us,  therefore,  the  neglect  of  it  must  be  inexcusable,  and 
highly  criminal.' 

"Such  was  the  mode  of  teaching  moral  philosophy,  as  ap- 
3* 


58  MORAL    PHILOSOPHY. 

pears  from  his  published  Lectures,  practised  by  Dr.  Beattie, 
during  the  long  course  of  upwards  of  thirty  years,  in  his 
public  lectures  at  Aberdeen.  Let  the  reader  compare  those 
animating  and  comfortable  doctrines  inculcated  by  this  ex- 
cellent  writer,  with  the  cold  and  cheerless  speculations  of  natu- 
ral reason  alone;  and  then  let  him  say  which  method  most  de- 
serves the  preference,  or  is  most  likely  to  promote  the  happiness 
of  mankind."  * 

We  have  been  the  more  particular  in  our  account  of  these 
two  distinguished  persons,  as  their  instructions  appear  to  have 
had  a  most  beneficial  effect  in  elevating  the  subject  of  this 
memoir  to  that  honorable  eminence  to  which  he  subsequently 
attained  as  a  Christian  minister.  Of  both  of  them  he  was 
accustomed  to  speak  with  warm  gratitude;  but  particularly 
of  Dr.  Beattie,.  whose  name  he  scarcely  ever  mentioned  but  with 
a  kind  of  admiration  bordering  on  enthusiasm,  not  solely  for  his 
intellectual  powers,  but  chiefly  for  the  amiable  temper  and  affec- 
tions of  his  mind,  which  particularly  endeared  him  to  all  who 
were  honored  with  his  intimacy  and  friendship. 

We  feel  deep  obligations  for  the  subjoined  account  of  Mr. 
Waugh  by  a  fellow-student  of  Aberdeen,  who  repaired  to  the 
metropolis  about  the  same  time  with  himself,  where  he  has 
attained  honorable  distinction  in  the  literary  world.  The 
friendship  thus  early  formed,  continued,  notwithstanding  their 
different  lines  of  pursuit,  without  abatement,  for  more  than  half 
a  century,— a  rare  occurrence,  it  is  to  be  apprehended,  amidst 
the  numerous  jealousies  and  collisions  of  this  anxious  and  ever- 
changing  life. 

"My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Waugh  began  about  October 
1777,  when  he  came  to  Aberdeen.  Previously  to  this  he  had 
been  a  student  in  the  Burgher  Secession  Academy,  then  super- 
intended by  the  well-known  Rev.  John  Brown,  of  Hadding- 
ton. I  well  remember  he  wTas  much  captivated,  as  all  young 
men  were  at  that  time,  with  Blair's  Sermons,  one  volume 
of  which  was  published,  and  was  in  everybody's  hands,  on 
account  of  the  style.  Mr.  Waugh's  object  in  coming  to  Aber- 
*  Life  of  Dr.  Beattie,  by  Sir  William  Forbes,  Bart. 


CHARACTER    AT    COLLEGE.  59 

deen,  was  to  attend  the  classes,  in  the  Marischal  College,  of 
Dr.  Beattie,  professor  of  moral  philosophy,  and  of  Dr.  Camp- 
bell, principal  of  this  college  and  professor  of  divinity.  He  at- 
tended likewise,  as  was  usual  for  students  destined  for  the 
church,  the  divinity  lectures  of  Dr.  Gerard,  King's  College.  Ac- 
cording to  the  plan  of  study  at  Marischal  College,  these  courses 
of  moral  philosophy  and  divinity  were  usually  attended  by  schol- 
ars in  the  fourth  and  last  years  of  their  regular  studies,  and  were 
followed  by  their  taking  the  degree  of  M.A.  if  found  qualified. 
On  Mr.  Waugh's  application  to  Dr.  Beattie,  he  was  discovered 
to  be  amply  qualified,  by  previous  attainments,  to  take  his  rank 
in  the  fourth  class  or  year,  and  accordingly  he  received  his  de- 
gree of  M.A.  along  with  the  writer  and  a  few  other  students  on 
April  1st,  1778. 

"  I  had  many  opportunities  of  knowing  that  he  had  a  very 
high  esteem  for  Dr.  Beattie ;  there  were,  indeed,  many  resem- 
blances in  their  personal  temper  and  disposition.  He  often 
repeated,  with  approbation,  the  concluding  passage  of  Dr. 
Beattie's  last  lecture,  which  may  be  given  here,  as  it  is  not 
added  to  the  printed  copy : — '  Learning,  when  one  applies  to 
it  with  a  sincere  purpose  of  improving  his  nature,  and  of  ren- 
dering himself  more  useful  to  his  fellow-creatures,  is  of  all 
earthly  possessions  the  most  valuable ;  but  still,  let  it  be  re- 
membered, that  piety  and  virtue  are  the  chief  principles  for 
which  man  was  made,  and  the  only  certain  means  of  happi- 
ness. The  time  is  fast  approaching,  when  learning  and  all  the 
ornaments  of  human  life  shall  disappear  forever,  and  nothing 
be  found  of  any  real  value  but  the  Divine  approbation.  If  that 
is  secured,  all  is  well ;  and  without  that,  all  other  attainments 
are  nothing.' 

"Of  Dr.  Waugh's  character  at  this  period  of  his  life,  I 
have  rather  a  general  than  a  minute  recollection,  but  one 
which  I  can  call  up  with  reverence.  It  is  impossible  to  for- 
get it ;  since,  according  to  all  I  know,  or  have  been  told  of 
him  in  after-life,  it  wras  uniforn  and  consistent.  It  evidently 
had  been  formed  on  the  firm  and  unalterable  principles  of  true 
piety ;  it  was  as  evidently  adorned  by  those  Christian   nrr8CAs 


60  CHARACTER   AT    COLLEGE. 

which  were  prominent  throughout  his  long  life.  His  heart  and 
affections,  all  were  calculated  to  prepare  him  for  the  sacred  du- 
ties he  was  about  to  take  upon  him.  His  conversation,  when 
we  walked  on  the  banks  of  the  Dee,  which  was  almost  every 
day  the  weather  permitted,  turned  upon  those  important  sub- 
jects which  were  to  engage  his  thoughts  and  his  prayers  for  the 
whole  of  his  future  life. 

"  He  was,  when  I  first  knew  him,  remarkable  for  cheerfulness 
of  disposition,  mildness  of  temper,  and  an  utter  aversion  to  every- 
thing harsh  and  censorious  in  treating  the  character  of  the  ab- 
sent. His  mind  seemed  always  bent  on  forbearance  and  forgive- 
ness in  speaking  of  such  persons  as  were  known  to  us  both : 
when  objections  were  stated,  he  was  more  of  the  advocate  than 
the  judge.  It  often  appeared  as  if  he  was  suffering  for  the  faults 
of  others ;  and  when  facts  were  brought  forward,  which  it  was 
impossible  to  palliate,  he  was  always  more  inclined  to  postpone 
the  trial  than  to  give  judgment. 

"  His  mild,  meek,  and  forbearing  temper  predominated  in 
all  his  conversation,  as  it  is  well  known  it  did  when  he  was 
afterwards  called  to  take  a  more  public  interest  in  matters 
where  decision  was  unavoidable.  I  know  not  if  Dr.  Waugh 
was  cautious  in  bestowing  his  friendships,  but  once  bestowed 
it  was  difficult  to  shake  them.  It  seemed  to  afflict  him  deeply 
when  compelled  to  alter  his  opinion  of  any  one.  This  I  early 
observed  was  likely  to  be  the  severest  trial  he  would  have  to 
encounter,  when  he  came  in  contact  with  the  many  varieties  of 
human  character ;  but,  whatever  might  happen,  he  never  could 
be  an  enemy ;  there  was  not  an  atom  of  fixed  animosity  in  his 
whole  composition. 

"  He  left  Aberdeen  soon  after  taking  the  degree  of  M.A. 
above  mentioned.  For  some  time  we  corresponded ;  but  I 
am  not  able  to  trace  his  progress  until  his  being  appointed  to 
the  congregation  over  which  he  presided  for  so  many  years  in 
London.  This  occurred  in  1782,  when  our  acquaintance  was 
renewed,  and  was  continued  without  loss  of  friendship  on 
either  side  during  his  life ;  but  the  great  distance  betwixt  our 
residences,  and  the  difference  of  our  pursuits,  rendered  our 


CHARACTER    AMONG    YOUTHFUL    ASSOCIATES.  Gl 

intercourse  less  frequent,  though  not  less  cordial,  than  I  could 
have  wished.  When  we  did  meet,  which  was  sometimes  in  pri- 
vate and  sometimes  in  public,  I  recognized  the  same  man,  both 
in  heart  and  spirit,  that  I  had  known  in  my  early  days;  and 
those  who  approached  him  more  closely  and  frequently,  can 
hear  witness  to  that  uniformity  of  character,  and  steady  adhe- 
rence to  the  service  of  his  great  Master,  which  have  been  uni- 
versally acknowledged." 

Another  of  Mr.  Waugh's  early  associates,  who  frequently  met 
him  in  the  country,  at  the  houses  of  their  respective  relatives 
in  Berwickshire,  during  the  intervals  of  his  academical  and  the- 
ological studies,  speaks  of  him  in  the  following  glowing  terms: 
— "He  was  at  this  period,  on  account  of  his  prepossessing 
appearance,  his  constant  cheerfulness,  his  affability  to  all,  his 
talents  in  conversation,  and  his  kindness  of  heart  displayed  in 
innumerable  benevolent  actions,  the  most  universally  beloved 
person  I  have  ever  known.  His  presence  diffused  a  spirit  of 
gladness;  and  all  gloom,  quarrelling,  selfishness, and  meanness, 
were  banished  wherever  he  appeared.  He  had  high  feelings  of 
honor,  far  beyond  most  of  his  learned  as  well  as  unlearned  as- 
sociates ;  and  in  this  respect,  as  well  as  in  demeanor  and  ad- 
dress, was  a  perfect  gentleman." 

With  all  this  social  cheerfulness,  lie  did  not  neglect  to  apply 
himself  with  due  diligence  to  those  preparatory  studies  which 
every  young  man,  whose  chief  ambition  it  is  to  be  a  faithful 
and  efficient  minister  in  the  church  of  Christ,  will  deem  of  in- 
calculable value.  We  subjoin  the  following  passages  of  a  let- 
ter (from  his  much-esteemed  friend  of  Aberdeen,  already  re- 
ferred to)  addressed  to  him  at  Edinburgh,  where  he  appears  to 
have  spent  the  winter  of  1*7*78,  previously  to  his  entering  on 
trial  for  license  : — 

"Aberdeen,  December  11,  1778. 
"  I  have  not  procured  the  Septuagint,  but  I  shall  endeavor  to  fol- 
low you  in  the  New  Testament :  I  feci  many  difficulties  ;  but  still 
I  would  wish  to  keep  in  mind 

1  Nil  est  tarn  difficile,  quod  non  solcrtia  vincatJ 


62  LETTER    FROM    A    FELLOW-STUDENT. 

"  You  made  use  of  a  phrase  in  your  last  letter  which  Mr.  Dick 
would  have  taken  much  amiss  ;  I  mean  good-hearted :  indeed,  it  is 
so  much  abused  in  common  conversation,  that  I  would  wish  it 
avoided  altogether.  One  who,  at  the  expense  of  his  health  and 
character,  sacrifices  every  virtuous  principle  to  the  love  of  pleas- 
ure or  mirth,  is  called  a  good-hearted  man ;  another,  who  by 
his  excesses  has  brought  himself  into  such  a  situation  as  to  be 
obliged  to  leave  his  country,  is  nevertheless  a  good-hearied  man  ; 
a  third,  who  in  companies  makes  no  scruple  to  ridicule  the  most  sa- 
cred things,  and  whose  life  is  one  uninterrupted  series  of  immorality 
and  vice,  is  a  good-hearted  man.  These  and  other  cases  I  have  ob- 
served repeatedly;  but  I  think  it  is  a  shameful  prostitution  of  lan- 
guage ;  nay,  worse,  for  this  gradually  impairs  our  sense  of  the  de- 
formity of  vice.  I  need  not  add,  that  I  make  no  reference  from  this 
to  what  you  said. 

"  I  hope  in  a  short  time  to  be  a  humble  auditor  of  my  friend, 
and  to  be  one  of  his  '  my  brethren.'  I  expect  and  insist  upon 
every  qualification  of  a  good,  pious,  respectable  Seceder  preacher. 
By  the  by.  I'll  tell  you  a  bit  of  my  mind.  I  positively  won't 
have  any  blank-verse  sermons;  not  a  syllable  that  smells  of  the 
Arminian ;  don't  quote  even  from  Cicero,  nor  Thomson  either. 
None  of  your  high-flying  rant,  which  people  nickname  oratory. 
Beware  how  you  lay  your  emphasis  on  the  breast  of  the  pulpit, 
it  may  break.  Be  plain  and  intelligible,  and  never  lose  sight  of 
your  Bible :  consider  that  the  meanest  of  your  audience  has  as 
good  a  right  to  understand  you  as  those  who  have  M.A.  tagged  to 
their  recommendation.  You  see  I  take  many  freedoms  with  you, 
and  you  won't  let  me  make  the  physic  more  palatable  with  a  little 
sweet  syrup  of  duplicity. 

"  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dick  join  me  in  compliments.  May  you  be  amply 
supplied  by  him  whom  giving  does  not  impoverish,  nor  withhold- 
ing enrich ! — I  am  your  friend, 

"A.  C." 


For  some  time  prior  to  this  period,  he  appears  to  have 
labored  under  very  considerable  discouragement,  regarding 
his  becoming  a  public  teacher  in  the  church.  He  experi- 
enced a  good  deal  of  difficulty  in  composition  ;  he  was  doubtful 
of  his  ability  to  make  useful  discourses,  and  apprehensive  that 
he  should  never  attain   to  respectability  as  a  preacher;  and 


LETTER    FROM    GEORGE    GRAHAM.  C3 

the  more  he  reflected  on  the  deep  and  awful  responsibility  of 
the  Christian  ministry,  his  mind  was  involved  in  deeper  un- 
easiness and  perplexity.  So  far  from  rushing  forward  into  the 
sacred  office  as  some  have  done,  without  fear  or  solicitude,  it 
required  every  encouragement  on  the  part  of  his  friends,  sup- 
ported by  weighty  arguments  and  motives,  to  prevail  with  him 
to  receive  license  as  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel. 

On  this  subject  he  had  laid  open  his  mind  to  his  confidential 
friend  Graham,  now  settled  in  the  West  Indies ;  and  the  fol- 
lowing letter  is  written  in  reply  : — 

"  Torlola,  November  14,  1776. 

"  Mr  Dearest  Friend. — You  tell  me  that  I  probably  shall 
never  hear  your  declamations :  this  may  be  so,  but  I  hope  it  will 
not  be  owing  to  the  impediments  you  point  out,  viz.  the  difficulty 
you  find  in  the  composition  of  your  discourses.  Follow  my  advice, 
and  I'll  warrant  a  speedy  removal  of  them.  I  recommend  to  you 
neither  to  be  too  vain,  nor  too  diffident,  of  your  own  abilities.  Of 
these  extremes,  inter  utrumque  tene,  medio  tutissimus  ibis.  The 
attending  to  the  former  will  induce  you  at  all  times  to  acknowl- 
edge your  dcpendance  on  Divine  aid  ;  and  while  you  reflect  on  the 
latter,  you  will  be  stimulated,  as  a  rational  agent,  in  the  use  of 
means. 

"  Your  good  opinion  generally  of  the  parts  and  abilities  of 
others,  makes  you  diffident  of  your  own.  Your  aspiring  genius 
ardently  desires  to  equal,  if  not  excel,  your  contemporaries; 
while  your  generosity  of  heart,  and  your  favorable  opinion  of 
others,  fetter  you  with  the  chains  of  despondency  and  imaginary 
disappointment.  The  desire  of  approbation  was  implanted  by 
God  in  the  soul  of  man  for  excellent  and  laudable  purposes, — 
one  of  which  is  obviously  intended  to  stimulate  men  to  make 
the  Divine  approbation  their  chief  and  ultimate  object:  beware, 
therefore,  lest  this  desire  should  look  no  farther  than  the  ap- 
probation of  men.  Satan,  though  not  omniscient,  nor  yet  omni- 
present, is  well  acquainted  with  our  weak  side,  and  watches  our 
unguarded  moments,  and  lays  his  snares  accordingly.  Perhaps 
he  is  apprized,  that,  by  your  instrumentality,  many  may  be  con- 
verted to  righteousness,  and  a  great  inroad  made  on  his  dominions. 
He  is,  perhaps,  permitted  to  tempt  you  with  an  ardent  avidity  of 
human   applause,  and   despondency   of  ever   attaining    it.     But, 


64  LETTER    FROM    GEORGE    GRAHAM. 

my  dear  sir,  let  this  be  the  inscription  on  your  life,  Nee  aspera 
terrent.  I  therefore  adjure  you  to  consider  these  discouragements 
as  temptations,  every  one  of  which  is  an  alarm  to  you  to  learn  your 
own  exercise  before  you  commence  to  be  a  leader  of  others.  Your 
glorious  Captain  suffered  the  same  treatment  when  tabernacling 
with  the  sons  of  men  ;  and  does  the  servant  expect  better  treatment 
than  the  master  ?  Temptation,  meditation,  and  prayer,  were  the 
preparation  for  his  public  ministry  ;  and  this  is  an  excellent  school 
for  training  all  his  ambassadors,  and  is  often  the  academy  where 
his  most  valuable  servants  acquire  the  principal  part  of  their 
education.  This  informs  them  that  man's  science  is  the  culture 
of  his  heart. 

"  You  tell  me  the  office  of  a  clergyman  is  awful  and  important. 
I  heartily  congratulate  you  on  account  of  being  one  who  thinks 
so ;  for  too  many  rush  into  that  sacred  office  with  less  premedita- 
tion than  I  open  store,  or  sit  down  at  my  desk.  I  acknowledge 
it  is  awful  and  important ;  yet  it  is  honorable,  advantageous, 
and,  if  faithfully  executed,  receives  an  exceeding  great  though 
gracious  reward.  Persevere,  therefore,  my  dearest  sir,  in  the 
diligent  prosecution  of  your  studies ;  keep  a  constant  intercourse 
with  Heaven  by  prayer;  and  let  the  awfulness  and  importance 
of  the  ministerial  office  not  intimidate  you,  but  spur  you  on  to 
double  your  diligence  in  preparing  you  for  its  faithful  discharge  : 
and  take  this  for  an  encouragement,  and  as  an  evidence  that  the 
Lord  has  need  of  you,  that,  in  the  course  of  his  providential  dis- 
pensations, he  has  revealed  to  ycu  that  the  office  of  a  clergyman 
is  awful  and  important. 

"  The  aid  of  my  prayers  you  may  always  depend  upon,  while 
a  serious  reflection  on  the  long-suffering  patience  of  God,  on  the 
unbounded  love  of  Christ,  and  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  con- 
tinuing to  strive  against  the  corruptions  of  my  own  heart,  incites 
my  attention  to  the  supreme  interest  of  my  dearest  friend. — 
Yours  ever  and  unfeignedly, 

"  George  Graham." 

The  following  letter  is  from  a  fellow-student,  who,  like 
himself,  was  now  on  trial,  before  the  Presbytery,  for  license. 
He  was  afterwards  settled  at  Berwick,  where  he  labored  in 
a  large  and  prosperous  and  affectionate  congregation,  with 
great  faithfulness  and  acceptability,  betwixt  thirty  and  forty 
years : — 


LETTER    FUO.M    MB.    BLACKBALL,  C5 

"  Selkirk,  April  27,  1779. 

"  My  Dear  Sir, — Your  last  gave  mc  both  pleasure  and  pain : 
pleasure,  for  I  longed  to  hear  from  you,  and  wished  to  know 
whether  you  were  disengaged  from  your  secular  matters ;  pain, 
on  account  of  your  continued  irresolution  about  accepting  of 
license.  All  the  grounds  of  your  discouragement  will,  when 
weighed  in  the  balance  of  the  sanctuary,  be  found  light,  and  the 
considerations  for  your  accepting  will  preponderate.  You  com- 
plain of  your  powers  of  composition ;  and  will  you  not  endure 
want  of  sleep,  and  painful  study,  for  Him  who  for  you  spent 
many  a  cold  sleepless  night  on  the  side  of  a  mountain ;  who  for 
you,  I  say,  groaned,  thirsted,  died  ?  You  think  you  will  not  be 
acceptable  to  the  vacancies.  It  is,  I  am  confident,  every  person's 
opinion  who  knows  you,  that  you  will  be  very  acceptable.  Try 
three  years  of  it,  and  then  speak  of  declining ;  and  will  not  these 
three  years,  in  your  last  moments,  appear  the  best  spent  in  your 
life  ?  And,  as  you  are  young  enough,  three  years  are  neither 
here  nor  there.  Granting  you  should  not  be  very  acceptable  to 
the  people,  fcince  you  seem  to  have  the  call  of  God  by  his  servants, 
go  on,  and  you  shall  by  no  means  lose  your  reward.  '  Your  sins 
are  great  and  aggravated.'  Be  it  so.  Though  sin  abounds  like 
a  flood,  grace  reigning  through  Christ's  righteousness  abounds 
like  an  ocean.  The  chief  of  Saviours  is  still  on  a  throne  of  mercy, 
founded  on  justice  and  judgment.  '  You  have  not  the  qualifi- 
cations which  make  up  the  character  of  a  young  divine,  accord- 
ing to  the  Scriptures.'  But  where  is  the  man  that  possesses  them 
all  in  perfection  ?  and  who  made  you  sole  judge  of  your  own 
abilities  ?  A  court  of  Christ  pronounces  you  qualified  ;  rest  in 
their  verdict  as  to  this,  lest  you  be  found  fighting  against  God ; 
and  this  rest  need  not  hinder  you  from  using  all  means  for  grow- 
ing in  grace,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ. 

"  You  have  attempted,  as  I  too  have  done,  to  get  away  from 
the  Lord's  work,  but  Providence  has  hitherto  frustrated  all  our 
tlesjgns — so  that  you  appear  to  be  shut  up  to  it ;  and  were  we  to 
try  any  more  schemes,  who  knows  but  we  might  be  baulked  in 
them  too  ?  Let  me  ask,  dear  Sandy,  are  you  content  to  be  reck- 
oned among  the  meanest,  the  poorest,  and  weakest  of  his  servants  ? 
Is  it  your  supreme  desire  that  Christ  should  be  glorified  by 
your  gifts?  Dare  you  say  that  God  hath  given  you  no  suita- 
ble furniture  for  serving  him  in  the  Gospel  of  his  Son  ?     If  you 


66  LETTER    FROM    MR.    BLACEHALL. 

say  so,  the  Presbytery  are  liars.  Remember  what  became  of  the 
unprofitable  servant  that  hid  his  Lord's  money.  Follow  the  ex- 
ample of  the  Divine  Preacher  :  '  I  must  work  the  work  of  Him  that 
sent  me,  while  it  is  day,'  said  Jesus :  '  the  night  cometh,  when  no 
man  can  work.' 

"  Your  resolution  not  to  take  license  at  Musselburgh  discourages 
me  greatly.  Ah  !  Sandy,  can  John  accept,  when  you  refuse  ? — 
you,  who,  I  dare  say,  are  judged  by  the  Presbytery,  and  every  intel- 
ligent person  who  has  heard  you,  better  qualified  in  every  respect 
for  preaching  the  Gospel.  I  don't  flatter,  no :  Assentatio,  vitiorum 
adjvtrix,  ab  amicilia  procul  amoveatur. 

"I  design  to  go  to  the  next  Pr33b  ery ;  and  though  I  am  the 
chief  of  sinners,  and  the  weakest  of  all  students  in  knowledge 
and  utterance,  I  would  fain  lay  myself  down  at  their  feet,  to  be 
disposed  of  as  God  shall  see  fit ;  and  should  you  decline,  think 
how  you  shall  be  able  to  look  Jesus  in  the  face,  when  he  calls 
you  to  give  an  account  of  your  stewardship.  '  The  more  weak  and 
sinful  you  are,'  says  our  professor,  in  a  letter  to  me,  '  have  the 
more  recourse  to  Christ ;  but  never  dare  to  flee  from  him.  If  you 
refuse  coming  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty,  I  have 
no  manner  of  doubt  but  the  vengeance  of  God  will  pursue  you : 
Judges  v.  23.' 

"  I  am  sorry  I  cannot  come  down  to  Caldron-Brae,  and  accom- 
pany you  to  Musselburgh.  It  is  quite  inconvenient  for  me  to  get 
a  horse  sooner  than  Monday.  May  the  Lord  God  and  his  Spirit 
accompany  you,  give  his  angels  charge  concerning  you,  to  keep 
you  in  all  your  ways,  and  preserve  you  from  doing,  in  yonder  town, 
what  you  may  perhaps  reflect  upon  with  anguish  of  spirit  till  the 
last  moment  of  your  life  ! — I  am,  my  dearest  Sandy,  yours  most 
affectionately,  and  while 

"  John  Blackhall." 

The  following  letter,  from  the  Professor  of  Divinity,  breathes 
that  tender  affection  and  faithful  freedom  for  which  that  great 
and  good  man  was  so  highly  distinguished  in  all  his  inter- 
course with  his  students  : — 

"  Haddington,  Feb.  13,  1779. 
"  Dear  Alexander, — The  hint  I  heard  concerning  Mr.  Black- 
hall  vexed  me.     I  have  written  to  him,  and  I  hope  he  will  be 
up  at  the  Presbytery.     I  beg  you  will  have  all  your  trials  ready. 


PASSES    HIS   TRIALS.  67 

Cast  your  burdens  on  the  Lord ;  but  beware  of  any  attempt  to 
slight  what  in  Providence  you  are  called  to,  otherwise  the  Lord 
may  avenge  it  on  you  while  you  live.  God  makes  our  strength 
as  our  days  are.  Cast  all  your  care  on  Him.  I  am  far  from 
thinking  it  a  token  that  a  man  is  not  called,  that  he,  when  it  comes 
near  to  the  point,  is  terrified.  Christ  got  forty  days  of  sad  tempta- 
tion before  he  was  licensed  to  preach  the  Gospel,  Matt.  iv.  But 
if  we  will  sit  God's  time,  the  consequences  arc  apt  to  be  dangerous. 
My  advice  to  you  is,  to  make  a  solemn  surrender  of  yourself  to 
God,  before  coming  to  the  Presbytery.  I  hope  the  Lord  has  let 
some  of  the  wind  cut  of  you,  that  I  thought  was  in  you  when  I  first 
knew  you.  Beg  of  him  to  fill  its  room  with  himself  and  his  grace. 
— Yours  affectionately, 

"  John  Brown." 


Every  pious  and  considerate  man  entering  into  the  ministry, 
when  lie  contemplates  the  difficulties  and  temptations  which 
arise  out  of  that  sacred  office,  and  the  all-important  trust  of 
souls,  for  which  lie  makes  himself  responsible,  will  be  disposed 
to  say  with  Paul,  "  Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things  ?"  And 
his  chief  encouragement  will  be  derived  from  a  confidential 
reliance  on  the  power  and  faithfulness  of  that  Master  who  hath 
kindly  promised,  "  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee ;  for  my 
strength  is  made  perfect  in  weakness."  After  long  and  ma- 
ture reflection  on  the  arguments  and  reasoning  employed  by 
his  friends,  accompanied  with  fervent  supplications  to  the 
Father  of  Lights  for  his  guidance  and  blessing,  he  at  last 
resolved  to  dedicate  his  whole  heart  and  soul  to  the  service 
of  God  in  the  Gospel  of  his  Son.  When  he  had  completed, 
in  a  very  honorable  manner,  the  course  of  trial  that  had  been 
prescribed  to  him,  he  was  licensed  to  preach  the  Gospel,  by 
the  Presbytery  of  Edinburgh,  at  Dunse,  June  28,  1779  ;  his 
affectionate  and  pious  minister,  Mr.  Coventry,  presiding  as 
moderator  on  that  occasion. 

It  ought  to  be  noticed  here,  that,  during  the  intervals  of 
his  academical  studies,  the  residence  of  his  parents  (latterly 
removed  to  the  farm  of  Caldron-Brae,  a  few  miles  distant 
from  Gordon)  had  always  been  Mr.  Waugh's  ordinary  home  ; 


68  HIS    ACCEPTABILITY    AS    A    PREACHER. 

and  this  continued  to  be  the  case  even  after  he  had  assumed 
a  more  public  character,  by  becoming  a  licensed  preacher  of 
the  Gospel  (or  a  Probationer,  according  to  the  Scottish  term), 
and  being  of  consequence  frequently  deputed  to  carry  on  the 
work  of  the  ministry  in  different  quarters,  as  need  required. 
And  thus  the  simplicity  of  his  early  feelings,  his  warm  domes- 
tic affections,  and  all  the  delightful  associations  of  his  school- 
boy' days,  were  stamped,  as  it  were,  indelibly  into  his  character, 
and,  in  lovely  combination  with  the  higher  aspirations  of  his 
ripened  intellect,  were  carried  by  him,  fresh  and  unimpaired, 
into  the  active  scenes  of  his  manhood. 

After  obtaining  license,  Mr.  Waugh  justified  the  sanguine 
expectations  of  his  friends,  by  uroving  both  an  able  and  very 
acceptable  preacher.  In  every  part  of  the  church  where  he 
was  called  to  labor,  he  was  esteemed  as  a  workman  who  need- 
ed not  to  be  ashamed.  His  prayers  were  distinguished  by  a 
copious  variety  of  Scriptural  expressions,  and  a  most  happy 
adaptation  to  the  condition  and  circumstances  of  every  class 
of  the  audience,  uttered  with  a  gravity  of  manner  and  a  melt- 
ing pathos,  which  solemnized  the  mind,  and  warmed  the  heart 
with  devotional  feelings.  His  discourses  were  richly  stored 
with  evangelical  truth,  illustrated  occasionally  by  a  series  of 
striking  imagery,  chiefly  borrowed  from  Scripture,  expressed 
in  elegant  and  forcible  language,  and  delivered  with  tones  of 
voice,  and  an  earnestness  of  manner,  which  manifested  to  every 
hearer  how  deeply  the  preacher  felt  in  his  whole  soul  that  it 
was  the  word  of  life  which  he  was  addressing  to  sinful  and 
perishing  men.  In  his  private  intercourse  with  the  people, 
his  well-informed  mind  and  prepossessing  appearance,  his  ur- 
banity of  manners,  his  great  conversational  talents,  and  the 
unaffected  interest  he  evinced  in  all  that  concerned  their  wel- 
fare, made  him  a  universal  favorite. 

The  following  congratulatory  letter  is  from  his  tried  and 
confidential  friend,  whose  affectionate  and  pious  counsels  ap- 
pear to  have  had  no  inconsiderable  influence  in  inducing  him 
to  get  over  his  scruples  and  doubtful  misgivings  regarding  his 
fitness  for  the  Christian  ministry  : — 


LETTER    FROM    GEORGE    GRAHAM.  G9 

"  St.  Croix,  July  30,  1779. 

"  Dear  Sir, — I  flatter  myself  (according  to  a  fashionable  mode 
of  speech),  that  I  may  wish  you  joy.  I  entertain  not  the  least 
doubt  of  your  being  now  licensed,  although  you  seemed  not  as- 
sured of  it  when  you  wrote  me  last.  May  you  be  long  preserv- 
ed, my  dear  friend,  as  an  ornament  to  religion,  as  an  able,  faith- 
ful, and  successful  minister  of  the  Christian  church,  and  a  useful 
member  of  society  ;  so  that,  after  a  long  and  honorably  labo- 
rious life  spent  here,  you  may  be  welcomed  into  the  mansions  of 
eternal  bliss,  and  peace,  and  joy,  with  a  '  Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant !'  As  to  your  fears  and  diffidence,  search  out  the 
source  from  whence  they  flow.  I  hope  you  don't  mean  to  court 
popularity.  If  you  administer  good  and  wholesome  food  and 
physic  to  the  perishing  souls  of  men,  without  once  attending  to 
their  disliking  the  taste  or  dress  thereof,  this  will  be  no  restric- 
tion to  your  becoming  all  things  to  all  men  ;  not  in  the  least. 
Again  let  me  advise  you  to  be  fully  convinced  of  your  own 
insufficiency  for  so  arduous  an  undertaking  as  the  drawing  of 
souls  to  Christ.  Paul  may  plant,  and  Apollos  may  water,  but  the 
increase  is  of  God.  May  this  drive  you  to  Christ's  fulness  for  a 
supply  of  every  gift  and  grace ;  and  may  you  rejoice  in  being- 
only  an  instrument  in  his  hand,  if  you  have  been  the  means  of 
turning  one  soul  from  the  error  of  his  ways.  Above  all,  let  me  be- 
seech you  to  be  incessant  in  prayer.  I  sincerely  am  of  opinion 
that  many  a  minister  who  recommends  this  duty  to  his  hearers  feels 
but  little  of  its  efficacy,  and  seldom  tries  the  experiment  himself. 
This  may  seem  harsh  and  uncharitable,  but  I  fear  is  too  true  a 
charge. 

"  You  preached  your  trial  sermon  at  Berwick ;  I  could  wish  to 
have  a  copy  of  it.  Mr.  Blackball  has  not  declined?  I  should 
really  be  sorry  if  it  were  so. 

"  Ever  yours, 

"George  Graham." 

In  about  two  months  after  receiving  license,  Mr.  Waugh 
was  appointed  by  the  Presbytery  to  supply  the  Secession  con- 
gregation of  Wells  Street  London,  recently  left  vacant  by  the 
death  of  their  beloved  and  highly  respected  minister,  the  Rev. 
Archibald  Hall.  Providence  having  chosen  this  field,  as  it  af- 
terwards appeared,  to  be  the  great  scene  of  his  future  ministra- 


70  REV.    ARCHIBALD    HALL. 

tions  in  the  service  of  the  sanctuary,  we  may  here  briefly  notice 
the  rise  of  that  respectable  Christian  community,  and  the  valu- 
able labors  of  his  excellent  predecessor. 

In  the  year  1758,  a  few  pious  young  men  from  Scotland, 
having  previously  associated  for  prayer  and  mutual  edification, 
made  application  to  the  associate  Synod  for  a  supply  of  min- 
isters, which  being  acceded  to  by  that  religious  body,  they 
sent  to  them  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pattison  of  Edinburgh,  who  preached 
in  a  chapel  that  had  been  purchased  in  St.  Giles's,  and  was 
the  means  of  increasing  their  numbers,  and  of  forming  them 
into  a  church,  by  the  ordination  of  elders.  A  succession  of 
ministers  was  subsequently  sent ;  and,  in  1*705,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Hall,  by  appointment  of  Synod,  was  placed  over  them  as  their 
stated  pastor.  Towards  the  end  of  the  year  1768,  the  congre- 
gation removed  to  another  chapel,  which  they  had  purchased 
in  Wells  Street,  Oxford  Road.  It  was  a  merciful  interposi- 
tion of  Providence  that  they  left  the  chapel  in  St.  Giles's  at  the 
time  they  did,  as,  in  about  three  weeks  afterwards,  it  fell  to  the 
ground. 

Mr.  Hall  had  been  previously  ordained  in  1759,  minister  of 
a  small  congregation  in  Scotland,  at  Torphichen  in  West 
Lothian.  "  We  have  heard  little  of  him,"  says  the  author  of  a 
short  memoir  lately  published,  "  during  his  residence  in  that 
retired  situation,  which  could  much  interest  the  public ;  only 
that  he  labored  in  the  ministry  to  the  great  satisfaction  and 
edification  of  that  people,  and  that  he  gained  the  affections 
both  of  his  own  congregation  and  others,  by  his  instructive  and 
judicious  discourses,  his  kind  and  obliging  disposition,  and  his 
uniformly  pious  deportment." 

After  his  translation  to  Wells  Street,  through  the  grace 
given  him,  he  labored  with  high  respectability,  and,  from 
the  superior  opportunities  he  enjoyed,  added  greatly  to  his 
acquirements.  To  other  useful  subjects  he  occasionally 
turned  his  attention,  but  sacred  literature  was  his  great  de- 
light, and  he  often  perused  the  oracles  of  God  in  the  original 
languages  in  which  they  were  written.  He  was  diligent  in 
preparation  for  the  pulpit,  exemplary  in  his  attention  to  the 


liKV.    ARCHIBALD    HALL.  71 

duties  of  visitation  from  house  to  house,  and  never  a  stranger 
to  his  people  in  the  day  of  distress. 

During  some  of  his  latter  years  lie  pursued  his  studies  and 
exercised  his  ministry  under  the  disadvantage  of  a  weak  and 
sickly  constitution.  In  October,  17 7 3,  over-exerting  him- 
self in  preaching  at  the  Lord's  Supper,  his  complaints  re- 
turned in  the  following  winter,  and  at  last  issued  in  his 
death. 

"  For  some  weeks,  or  rather  months,  before  his  departure," 
says  one  of  his  attendants,  "  he  talked  of  death  with  as  much 
serenity  as  any  one  could  do  of  going  to  sleep.  He  could 
take  a  long  and  formal  farewell  of  every  one  that  was  dear 
to  him  ;  he  was  able  to  do  this  with  a  resigned,  easy,  and  calm 
spirit,  which  was  calculated  to  soothe  the  distress  of  mourning 
survivors."  Near  his  end,  when  some,  sensible  of  the  great 
loss  the  church  of  Christ  would  sustain  by  his  removal,  were 
weeping  around  him,  he  said,  with  truly  dignified  Christian 
composure,  "  I  go  to  my  Father  and  your  Father,  to  my  God 
and  your  God.  This  God  will  give  you  another  pastor,  who 
shall  feed  you  with  knowledge  and  understanding."  He  also 
addressed  them  nearly  in  these  words  of  his  Lord  and  Master, 
4'If  ye  loved  me,  ye  would  not  weep,  because  I  said,  I  go 
to  the  Father."  Soon  after,  he  fell  asleep  in  Jesus,  May  6, 
1778,  in  the  forty-second  year  of  his  age,  and  nineteenth  of 
his  ministry,  and  was  interred  in  Bunhill  Fields'  burying- 
ground.  It  may  be  interesting  to  add,  that,  after  a  lapse  of 
forty-nine  years,  the  same  grave  received  the  mortal  remains 
of  his  successor. 

His  knowledge  was  truly  extensive,  and  he  thought  with 
uncommon  accuracy  and  precision.  His  public  discourses 
were  well  adapted  for  informing  the  judgment  and  warming 
the  heart.  To  the  Presbyterian  form  of  church  government 
he  was  firmly  attached,  from  a  conviction  that  it  is  the  form 
laid  down  in  the  New  Testament.  In  conversation  he  was 
easy,  instructive,  and  entertaining.  In  the  parlor  he  used 
to  descant  upon  Gospel  truths  in  a  distinct,  engaging,  and 
pleasant  manner.     He  never  spent  his  time  in  empty,  foolish 


72 

talking,  much  less  in  making  reflections  injurious  to  the  rep- 
utation of  others ;  but  in  every  company  it  seemed  to  be 
his  aim  either  to  do  good,  or  get  good,  or  both.  The  benev- 
olence of  his  disposition  led  him  to  attend  to  those  minute 
offices  of  kindness  which  are  so  necessary  to  smooth  the  in- 
tercourse of  mankind  with  each  other,  and  have  so  great  an 
influence  on  general  happiness.  His  pleasing,  generous,  and 
\ery  acceptable  attentions  were  not  soon  forgotten  by  those 
who  were  the  objects  of  them.  He  was  much  in  the  devout 
exercises  of  prayer  and  praise,  giving  vent  to  the  grateful 
emotions  of  a  feeling  heart ;  and  used,  even  in  the  solitude  of 
the  closet,  to  sing  psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs. 

He  published  several  valuable  works :  "  A  Treatise  on  the 
Government  of  the  Christian  Church,"  and  another  on  "  Church 
Fellowship ;"  two  volumes  on  "  Gospel  Worship ;"  and  two 
sermons,  which  he  entitles  "  Grace  and  Holiness."  He  also  left 
a  small  work  "  On  the  Faith  and  Influence  of  the  Gospel,"  in  a 
state  of  preparation  for  the  press,  which  was  published  many 
years  ago.  To  these  may  be  added  a  small  collection  of  his 
letters,  which  has  been  very  recently  edited  by  one  of  his  sur- 
viving friends,  who  has  prefixed  to  it  a  short  memoir,  from 
which  we  have  extracted  the  above  notices  respecting  this  truly 
excellent  man. 

Mr.  Waugh,  after  his  arrival  in  London,  continued  to  sup- 
ply AVells  Street  congregation  for  about  ten  Sabbaths,  and 
met  with  a  most  cordial  reception  from  that  pious  and  affec- 
tionate people.  His  public  ministrations,  and  his  private  in- 
tercourse with  the  members,  produced  a  very  favorable  and 
lasting  impression ;  which  afterwards  displayed  itself  by  their 
strenuous  exertions  to  procure  his  stated  services,  in  which 
they  persevered,  under  great  discouragement,  till  their  efforts 
were  ultimately  crowned  with  success.  The  exemplary  char- 
acter of  the  congregation,  the  private  worth  of  such  of  them 
as  he  was  acquainted  with,  and  the  marked  instances  of 
kindness  and  regard  which  he  received,  produced  a  strong 
reciprocal  affection  in  his  mind.  A  wise  and  gracious  Provi- 
dence was  thus  silently  opening,  hi.^  wav   to  that  highly  irn- 


NATIONALITY    OF    CHARACTER.  73 

portent  scene  of  labor  and  usefulness  to  which  the  subse- 
quent part  of  his  life  was  devoted,  and  in  which  his  great 
Master,  at  his  coming,  found  him  faithfully  and  zealously  oc- 
cupied. 

It  may  here  be  remarked,  that  Mr.  Waugh  was,  on  many 
accounts,  fitted  to  make  a  highly  favorable  impression  upon 
the  Scotch  people  in  London ; — by  his  talents  in  the  pulpit ; 
the  affectionate  earnestness  of  his  ministry,  both,  on  public 
and  private  occasions ;  by  his  open  generosity  of  disposition 
and  pleasing  urbanity  of  manners ;  and,  more  particularly, 
by  the  strong  nationality  of  his  character  and  feelings.  This 
latter  peculiarity  was  indeed  fitted,  in  the  most  eminent  de- 
gree, to  awaken  the  dormant  but  deep-rooted  sympathies  of 
his  countrymen ;  and  to  it  we  may,  without  derogating  from 
qualifications  of  a  more  consecrated  character,  fairly  ascribe 
no  slight  portion  both  of  his  immediate  acceptability  and  of  his 
ulterior  usefulness :  for  (as  will  afterwards  be  apparent)  the 
influence  of  his  personal  intercourse  with  his  hearers  was  aided 
exceedingly  by  the  fervor  of  his  national  sympathies,  and  by 
the  tender,  and  touching,  and  pious  associations  which  he  pos- 
sessed the  happy  art  of  awakening  even  in  the  most  callous 
bosoms.  The  effect  of  this  influence  in  keeping  alive,  in  the 
heart  of  London,  the  most  valuable  features  of  the  Scottish 
character,  as  manifested  in  the  Wells  Street  congregation, 
ought  not  to  be  overlooked,  though  it  would  be  premature 
here  to  dwell  upon  it. 

On  his  return  to  Scotland,  he  was  appointed  to  supply,  on 
the  first  and  second  Sabbaths  of  November,  the  congregation 
of  Bristo  Street,  Edinburgh,  recently  vacant  in  consequence 
of  the  death  of  the  Rev.  John  Pattison,  who  was  highly  es- 
teemed as  an  able  and  faithful  minister  of  Christ,  not  only  in 
his  own  congregation,  but  in  every  part  of  the  church  where 
he  had  occasion  to  labor.  Here  his  ministrations  were  also 
highly  acceptable,  and  a  very  considerable  part  of  that  large 
and  respectable  congregation  felt  warmly  inclined  to  call  him 
for  their  pastor.  In  the  meantime,  a  unanimous  call  was 
given  to  him  by  the  congregation  of  Newtown,  and  sustained 

4 


74  HIS    CALL    TO    NEWTOWN. 

by  the  Presbytery  at  their  meeting,  December  21,  1779. 
This  was  a  very  small  congregation,  in  the  parish  of  Melrose, 
Roxburghshire,  which  had  never  enjoyed  a  stated  ministry. 
Although  such  a  situation  possessed,  for  a  person  of  his  de- 
cidedly national  and  rural  predilections,  some  peculiar  allure- 
ments, and  had,  moreover,  the  advantage  of  fixing  him  in  the 
near  vicinity  of  his  family  connections,  and  of  the  much-loved 
scenes  of  his  early  years,  he  yet  appears  to  have  hesitated  not 
a  little  whether  it  would  be  prudent  on  his  part  to  accept  the 
charge. 

One  of  his  early  associates,  at  this  time,  writing  to  a  friend 
in  London,  an  eminent  virtuoso,  speaks  of  him  in  the  follow- 
ing terms ;  which  we  quote,  not  only  as  adverting  to  his 
general  reputation  as  a  young  preacher,  but  as  also  evincing 
the  very  affectionate  regard  in  which  he  was  held  by  those 
to  whom  he  was  most  intimately  known  : — "  I  admire  Mr. 
Waugh  as  much  as  any  of  his  acquaintance,  but  not  for  his 
taste  for  antiquity ;  for  often  has  he  rallied  me  on  the  pos- 
session, and  I  him  upon  the  want  of  inclination  for  it.  But 
he  has  a  real  genius  for  the  investigation  of  divinity  and  mor- 
als, and  for  composition ;  he  possesses  the  finest  disposition 
for  friendship  and  for  company ;  and  seems  to  me  one  who 
will  long  be  improving  in  excellence — longer,  indeed,  than 
any  person  I  know :  so  that  I  expect,  if  Providence  spare 
him  and  me,  that  he  will  make  an  eminent  clergyman,  and 
that  I  shall  rejoice  in  such  a  friend.  He  has  got  a  call  to 
Newtown, — a  poor  place.  Many  of  the  people  in  Edinburgh 
wish  to  have  him ;  sincerely  do  I  desire  that  they  would  give 
him  a  unanimous  call.  I  hope  he  will  be  a  blessing  to  the 
congregation,  and  to  the  Secession  in  general.  But  whither 
am  I  going  ?  When  Waugh  is  the  subject,  I  can  no  more 
get  off  it  than  a  young  lover  can  get  his  mistress  out  of  his 
head." 

The  following  letter  will  show  how  another  of  his  most  valued 
friends  felt  on  the  subject  of  his  call  to  Newtown. 


LETTER    FROM    GEORGE    GRAHAM.  15 

St.  Croix,  Aug.  21, 1780. 

"  My  Deahest  Friend  : — Wednesday  last  being  the  anniver- 
sary of  the  birth-day  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Waugh,  it  did  not  pass  un- 
noticed. May  you  live,  my  dear  Sir,  to  see  many  happy  returns  of 
the  16th  of  August!  May  you  bean  able,  faithful,  and  success- 
ful laborer,  to  whatever  part  of  the  Lord's  vineyard  you  may 
be  appointed ;  so  that  many,  by  your  instrumentality,  being 
turned  from  the  error  of  their  ways,  may  bless  the  day  in 
which  your  mother  forgot  her  sorrows  by  being  told  that  a 
man-child  was  born  !  and  may  you,  after  a  long,  happy,  and 
useful  life  spent  here,  enter  the  gates  of  the  heavenly  Zion 
amidst  the  joyous  acclamations  of  holy  angels,  patriarchs,  prophets, 
apostles,  martyrs,  and  confessors,  exerting  themselves  afresh  in 
singing  praises  to  Him  that  was  dead,  and  is  now  alive;  who  by 
means  of  a  helpless  infant,  sent  into  the  world  on  the  16th 
August,  1754,  has  added  many  members  to  the  church  triumphant ; 
and  hath  appointed  him,  as  the  gracious  reward  of  having  turned 
many  to  righteousness,  to  shine  with  them  as  stars  forever  and 
ever! 

"  But  let  us  return  to  the  place  of  our  present  sojourning. 
Pray,  my  dear  solitudinarian,  have  you  really  accepted  the  charge 
at  Newtown  ?  Were  it  lawful  to  repine  at  any  of  the  dispen- 
sations of  Providence,  at  this  I  would  really  murmur.  I  think 
the  Presbytery  ought  to  annul  the  call.  Truly,  Sir,  one  pos- 
sessing such  a  share  of  urbanity  as  you  do  (I  shall  say  this  be- 
twixt ourselves),  would  be  more  useful  in  a  town  or  a  city 
than  in  such  a  moorland  hermitage,  a  rural  cloister,  as  I  take 
Newtown  to  be.  What  could  induce  the  people  to  give  you  the 
preference?  You  will  tell  me,  perhaps,  that  the  election  of  a 
minister  is  providential.  I  readily  grant  you  that ;  but  is  it  not 
also  preceptive  ?  We  ought  to  make  choice  of  those,  when  we 
have  a  choice,  that  can  become  all  things  to  all  men  in  the  place 
they  are  called  to ;  whose  tempers,  dispositions,  and  way  of  life, 
adapt  them  in  some  measure  for  their  situation,  and  offer  least 
violence  to  their  natural  feelings.  However,  if  my  remarks  are  too 
late  or  impertinent,  may  congregation  and  pastor  be  happy  in  one 
another,  is  my  sincere  prayer.  'Whatever  is,  is  right,'  says 
Alexander  Pope ;  so  must  I  say  relative  to  the  election  of  a  Se- 
ceding minister  for  Newtown. 

"Yours  forever, 

"  George  Graham." 


76  HINT    TO    MINISTERS. 

The  subject  of  this  memoir,  after  long  deliberation  with 
himself  and  his  friends,  and  much  fervent  prayer  for  Divine 
direction  in  this  important  step  of  life,  came  at  last  to  see 
that  it  was  the  will  of  Providence  that  he  should  take  the 
pastoral  care  of  this  infant  society.  He  therefore  resolved  to 
go  forward  in  what  now  appeared  the  path  of  duty,  devolving 
all  his  apprehensions  and  anxieties  on  that  affectionate  and 
faithful  Master  who  hath  kindly  promised  to  his  ministers, 
"  As  thy  day  is  so  shall  thy  strength  be."  His  trial  for  ordi- 
nation being  completed  at  a  preceding  meeting  of  Presbytery, 
he  was  set  apart  to  the  office  of  the  holy  miuistry  at  New- 
town, by  prayer  and  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  Pres- 
bytery, on  August  30,  1780.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Riddoch,  of  Cold- 
stream,  as  moderator,  gave  the  charge  to  the  minister  and  the 
congregation. 

On  the  following  Sabbath,  September  3,  he  commenced  his 
ministrations  with  a  lecture  on  Psalm  xlv.  1-9  ;  and  preached, 
in  the  afternoon,  on  verse  2  of  the  same  Psalm.  He  did 
not  regularly  lecture  in  any  particular  book  of  Scripture,  till 
a  short  time  before  his  removal  from  this  charge,  when  he 
commenced  a  course  of  lectures  in  Luke.  It  was  a  custom 
with  Mr.  Brown,  soon  after  the  ordination  of  any  of  his  stu- 
dents, to  write  the  individual  ordained  a  letter  of  salutary 
counsel,  regarding  the  particular  duties  which  had  devolved 
upon  him  in  the  new  and  serious  relation  into  which  he  had 
entered.  The  very  solemn  admonition  which  Mr.  Wavgfa  re- 
ceived from  the  worthy  professor  on  this  occasion,  he  pub- 
lished, many  years  afterwards,  in  the  Evangelical  Magazine. 

"hint  to  ministers. 

"  The  Rev.  J.  Brown,  of  Haddington,  tutor  in  divinity  to  the 
Associate  Synod,  in  a  letter  of  paternal  counsels  and  cautions  to 
one  of  his  pupils  newly  settled  in  a  small  congregation,  wrote 
thus  : — '  I  know  the  vanity  of  your  heart,  and  that  you  will  feel 
mortified  that  your  congregation  is  very  small  in  comparison  with 
those  of  your  brethren  around  you  ;  but  assure  yourself,  on  the 
word  of  an  old  man,  that  when  yon  come  lo  give  an  account  ol 


LETTER    FROM   GEORGE    GRAHAM.  77 

them  to  the  Lord  Christ,  at  his  judgment-seat,  you  will  think  you 
have  had  enough." 

It  would  appear  that  this  short  letter  had  sunk  deep  into  his 
susceptible  mind,  so  as  not  only  to  awaken  that  salutary  anxi- 
ety which  every  minister  will  feel  who  watches  for  souls  as  one 
that  must  give  an  account,  but  to  cause  very  considerable  de- 
jection regarding  his  fitness  for  that  sacred  trust  which  had 
been  committed  to  him.  On  this  matter  he  had  unbosomed 
his  heart  to  his  confidential  friend,  who  thus  writes:  — 

"St.  Croix,  June  19,  1781. 
"  What  is  the  cause  of  all  this  dejection,  diffidence,  and  pu- 
sillanimity, so  very  discernible  in  my  friend's  letter  ?  Really, 
from  your  innate  benevolence  and  generosity  of  disposition,  of 
which  I  have  had  repeated  experience,  I  imagined  that,  instead 
of  fearing  that  your  small  congregation  would  appear  too  large  at 
the  day  of  final  retribution,  your  exercise  would  be — studying 
a  perfect  resignation  to  the  Divine  will,  that  had  been  pleased 
to  confine  your  labors  and  talents  to  so  small  a  spot,  thus 
preventing  you  from  being  more  extensively  useful  in  another 
corner  of  the  Christian  vineyard.  I  hope  you  are  determined, 
with  a  humble,  steadfast  affiance  on  Divine  aid,  to  act  as  a 
faithful  watchman  upon  Zion's  walls,  to  sound  the  trumpet,  and 
warn  the  people  when  danger  approaches,  or  is  likely  to  ap- 
proach, whether  your  congregation  be  large  or  small.  If  they  take 
not  warning,  they  shall  perish  in  their  iniquity ;  but  you,  by 
your  faithfulness,  will  deliver  your  own  soul.  Our  glorious,  all- 
conquering  Captain,  has  promulgated  a  manifesto  long  ago,  and  it 
stands  still  on  record  ;  it  is  to  this  purport,  that  he  sends  none  of 
his  disciples  on  warfare  at  their  own  charge  ;  and  that  he  will 
be  with  his  faithful  servants  at  all  times,  even  unto  the  end  of 
the  world.  Perhaps  old  Adam  is  too  strong  for  my  young  friend. 
Consider,  my  dear  Sir,  '  no  cross,  no  crown.'  You  must  run  be- 
fore you  reach  the  goal ;  you  must  fight  ere  you  gain  the  prize. 
Be  of  good  courage  ;  He  that  is  for  you,  is  stronger  than  he  that 
is  against  you." 

His  settlement  at  Newtown  was  very  agreeable  to  all  his 
relations  except  his  mother,  who  felt  considerable  disappoint- 


78  MINISTRY    AT    NEWTOWN. 

rnent  that  her  beloved  son,  who  had  received  so  liberal  an 
education,  and  had  been  the  object  of  her  unceasing  solicitude, 
should  be  stationed  for  life  in  such  a  small  and  obscure  place. 
The  congregation  was  not  in  circumstances  to  give  him  an 
adequate  support;  and  as  no  convenient  house  could  be  pro- 
cured in  the  neighborhood,  he  continued  to  reside  at  his  fa- 
ther's, a  distance  of  about  twelve  or  fourteen  miles,  and  usually 
rode  to  Newtown  on  the  Saturday  nfternoon,  and  returned 
on  the  following  Monday,  unless  when  detained  by  ministerial 
visitation  or  catechizing,  or  some  other  clerical  duty.  His 
non-residence  must  have  been  inconvenient  for  himself,  and 
very  disadvantageous  to  the  interests  of  the  congregation  ;  and 
yet  never  was  there  a  people  more  warmly  attached  to  a  minis- 
ter. In  his  public  instructions,  they  hung  upon  his  lips  with 
admiration  and  delight ;  and  his  private  conversation,  when  he 
had  an  opportunity  of  meeting  with  them,  produced  a  still 
deeper  impression. 

We  have  already  adverted  to  his  very  marked  dislike  of 
everything  bordering  on  slander  or  defamation  of  character, 
— a  vice  so  strongly  interwoven  with  our  fallen  nature,  that 
many  good  men,  highly  distinguished  for  other  excellencies, 
do  not  watch  with  sufficient  circumspection  against  this  be- 
setting sin.  The  following  is  an  illustration  of  his  character  in 
this  point : — "  One  of  his  people  had  travelled  all  the  way 
from  Newtown  to  his  father's,  where  he  usually  resided,  to 
communicate  to  him  an  unfavorable  report  concerning  an- 
other member  of  the  conereffation.  Some  friends  beino-  with 
him,  this  person  was  requested  to  stay  and  dine  with  them. 
After  dinner,  he  took  occasion,  in  a  jocular  manner,  to  ask 
each  person,  in  his  turn,  how  far  he  had  ever  known  a  man 
travel  to  tell  an  evil  report  of  his  neighbor ;  when  some 
gave  one  reply,  and  some  another :  he  at  last  came  to  this 
individual,  but  without  waiting  for  his  self-condemning  reply* 
or  unnecessarily  exposing  him,  Mr.  Waugh  stated,  that  he 
had  lately  met  with  a  Christian  professor,  apparently  so 
zealous  for  the  honor  of  the  church,  as  to  walk  fourteen 
miles  with  no  other  object  than  that  of  making  known   to 


CALL    FROM    LONDON.  79 

his  minister  the  failings  of  a  brother-member.  He  then,  in  a 
warm  and  impressive  manner,  enlarged  on  the  praise  of  that 
"  charity  which  covers  a  multitude  of  sins ;  which  rejoiceth  not 
in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth." 

At  this  time  a  considerable  interest  was  excited  about  ef- 
fecting a  union  betwixt  the  two  sides  of  the  Secession  (the 
Burghers  and  Antiburghers),  who  had  been  separated  for 
about  thirty-five  years.  Mr.  Waugh  entered  with  deep  in- 
terest into  a  subject  so  peculiarly  congenial  to  the  temper  of 
his  mind,  and  wrote  a  paper  in  recommendation  of  the  meas- 
ure, which  was  generally  circulated  through  that  part  of  the 
country.  Several  meetings  were  held  ;  but,  from  the  warmth 
and  jealousy  displayed  on  each  side,  these  terminated  in  no 
salutary  result.  "The  time  to  favor  Zion  was  not  yet 
come."  But  though  the  lovers  of  peace  were  not  able  then 
to  rear  that  comely  structure  which  has  been  since  so  happily 
completed  at  a  more  auspicious  period,  it  will  be  said  to  them, 
in  the  great  day  of  account,  by  Him  who  weigheth  intentions 
as  well  as  actions,  "  that  they  did  well  that  it  was  in  their 
heart." 

It  was  peculiarly  gratifying  to  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  to 
find  himself,  thirty-nine  years  after  this  period,  spared  by  a 
kind  and  gracious  Providence  to  be  present  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Synod  in  Edinburgh,  September  1819,  when  arrangements 
were  making  by  both  sides  of  the  Secession  for  effecting  that 
union  which  now  triumphed  over  every  obstruction,  and  was 
successfully  concluded  on  the  following  year.  In  those  arrange- 
ments he  took  a  most  deep  and  lively  interest ;  and  was  depu- 
ted by  his  own  Synod  to  offer  up  their  fervent  prayers  to  the 
exalted  Head  of  the  church,  to  crown  that  work  and  labor  of 
love  with  his  divine  and  efficient  blessing. 

While  he  was  faithfully  discharging  both  the  public  and 
private  duties  of  his  ministry  at  Newtown,  the  deep  impres- 
sion his  services  had  produced  on  the  church  at  Wells  Street 
began  to  appear.  A  call  to  him  from  that  congregation  was 
wrought  before  the  Synod  which  met  at  Edinburgh,  in  May, 
1781.      By    the   Synod's   minutes,    it   appears    that,    "after 


80  CALL   FROM    LONDON. 

parties  were  fully  heard,  he  was  continued  in  Newtown  by  a 
great  majority."  He  had  spoken  in  favor  of  his  continu- 
ance at  Newtown  before  the  Synod  proceeded  to  give  judg- 
ment. "We  extract  from  his  own  papers,  written  at  this  date, 
the  following  account  of  his  sentiments  on  a  matter  to  him  of 
no  common  interest : — "  The  shortness  of  the  time  of  my  min- 
istrations at  Newtown ;  the  yet  unsettled  state  of  that  congre- 
gation ;  the  attachment  which  they  had  manifested  to  their 
pastor  ;  the  struggles  which  they  have  made  for  the  settlement 
of  a  minister  among  them ;  above  all,  my  unfitness  for  the 
office  in  which  I  now  minister ; — these  are  the  considerations 
which  moved  me  to  decline  accepting  of  this  call.  Since  that 
day,  insinuations  of  several  of  my  fathers  in  the  ministry,  in 
regard  to  that  affair,  have  hurt  my  mind  very  much.  They 
are  pleased  to  say,  that  I  have  wantonly  preferred  my  own  ease 
before  the  good  of  a  congregation  which  deserves  well  of  every 
friend  to  the  Secession ;  that  by  my  explicit  refusal,  I  had  put 
it  out  of  the  Synod's  power  to  fulfil  their  engagements  in  the 
speedy  settlement  of  a  minister  among  them  ;  and  that  by  this 
fresh  disappointment  I  had  given  the  congregation  a  thrust 
which  might  be  followed  by  very  unhappy  consequences  to 
the  interest  of  the  Secession  in  London.  Though  ray  heart 
tells  me  that  these  charges  are  not  applicable  to  me,  yet  I  do 
not  recollect  many  events  of  my  life  which  have  affected  me 
more.  The  happiness  of  the  congregation  of  Wells  Street 
hath  never  been  to  me  an  indifferent  matter  :  nay,  were  I  as- 
sured that  by  my  declining  to  accept  of  their  call,  they  shall 
suffer  more  than  a  slight  disappointment,  or  be  in  danger  of 
applying  to  any  other  body  of  Christians,  I  am  fully  persuaded 
that  no  considerations,  taken  from  my  health,  ease,  native 
country,  or  any  other  quarter,  would  deter  me  from  devoting 
to  them  my  best  and  continued  services  in  the  ministry  of  the 
Gospel." 

In  mentioning  the  following  incident,  which  took  place 
this  summer  (and  which  has  been  communicated  by  the 
venerable  ex-secretary  of  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
whose  praise  is  in  all  our  churches),  it  is  to  be  observed,  in 


SECOND    CALL    FROM    LONDON.  81 

explanation,  that  a  chapel  in  connection  with  the  Secession 
having  been  recently  opened  in  Carlisle,  Mr.  Waugh,  in  his 
zeal  for  the  cause,  had  made  himself  responsible  for  a  consid- 
erable debt  upon  it: — "It  was  on  the  4th  of  July,  1*781,  that 
by  desire  of  Lady  Glenorchy,  I  went  from  Lancaster,  where 
I  then  resided,  to  Carlisle,  to  purchase  of  Mr.  Waugh  a  small 
chapel,  in  which  he  had  occasionally  ministered  in  connection 
with  the  Secession  church.  But  as  the  cause  was  discourag- 
ing, he  was  desirous  of  parting  with  the  place ;  and  Lady 
Glenorchy,  who  had  engaged  me  and  others  to  preach  at 
various  places  in  the  north  of  England,  authorized  me  to  pur- 
chase it  for  her.  I  met  Mr.  Waugh  there.  I  preached  in 
the  evening.  Before  sermon  he  baptized  a  child;  next  day 
I  paid  him  the  purchase-money,  £120;  and  he  has  often  told 
me  since,  how  his  heart  was  lightened  from  a  heavy  burden, 
as  he  had  made  himself  responsible  for  the  money,  and  was 
afraid  of  the  consequences.  He  used  to  say  it  was  a  warning 
to  him,  never  more  to  have  to  do  with  money  matters  in 
chapel-building.  I  little  thought  then,  that  fourteen  years 
afterwards  an  intimacy  would  take  place  that  would  last  for 
life." 

A  second  call  to  him  from  London  was  on  the  27th  No- 
vember, 1*781,  brought  before  an  interim  meeting  of  Synod, 
which  again  decided  that  he  should  be  continued  at  New- 
town. The  commissioners  from  Wells  Street,  in  a  letter  to 
their  constituents,  inve  the  following  statement  rc^ai'dincr  the 
decision : — "  We  are  exceedingly  vexed  to  inform  you,  that 
after  all  you  have  already  suffered,  our  most  arduous  endeav- 
ors for  the  happy  settlement  of  your  congregation  have 
once  more  proved  abortive,  to  the  universal  grief  of  ministers 
and  spectators,  by  the  unaccountable  keenness  of  the  country 
elders  to  humble  metropolitan  congregations,  as  they  are 
termed ;  in  spite  of  the  plain,  manly,  and  honest  declaration 
made  by  the  worthy  object  of  your  regard,  that,  owing  to 
deaths,  and  other  alterations  which  had  taken  place  since  he 
was  settled  in  Newtown,  he  was  willing  to  be  removed. 
The    Synod,  in   testimony  of  their  sincere  sympathy,  are  to 

4* 


82  THIRD    CALL    FROM    LONDON. 

send  up  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dick,  of  Queensfeny,  with  all  convenient 
speed ;  and  have  also  appointed  some  members  to  write  to 

you." 

Matters  could  not  continue  for  any  length  of  time  in  such  a 
dubious  and  painful  state,  and  there  was  every  ground  to  ex- 
pect Mr.  Waugh's  speedy  translation  from  Newtown.  The 
congregation  of  Wells  Street  had  set  their  hearts  most  ardently 
and  unanimously  on  obtaining  him  for  their  pastor,  and  stead- 
fastly persevered,  notwithstanding  the  great  discouragements 
they  had  experienced,  in  prosecuting  their  claims  before  the 
Synod.  A  third  call  from  this  congregation  was  laid  before 
the  Presbytery  and  sustained  on  the  19th  March,  1782.  At 
the  same  time,  a  call  to  him  from  the  congregation  of  Bristo 
Street,  Edinburgh,  was  also  brought  forward ;  but  when  the 
two  calls  came  before  the  Synod,  some  mismanagement  or 
informality  prevented  their  being  brought  into  direct  and  open 
competition;  and  that  of  Bristo  Street  was  ultimately  with- 
drawn, after  sundry  discussions,  chiefly  on  points  of  form,  In 
which  the  generality  of  our  readers  could  take  but  little  in- 
terest. In  the  meanwhile,  the  question  was  finally  discussed 
in  Synod,  whether  Mr.  Waugh  should  be  translated  to  London 
or  continued  in  Newtown ;  and  the  commissioners  on  each 
side,  and  also  Mr.  "Waugh,  having  previously  been  fully  heard, 
"after  prayer  for  the  Lord's  direction  and  overruling  of  the 
decision  to  his  own  glory  and  the  good  of  all  concerned," 
the  votes  were  taken,  when  it  was  carried  in  favor  of  Wells 
Street;  and  the  Presbytery  of  Edinburgh  was  appointed 
to  admit  him,  as  speedily  as  possible,  to  the  charge  of  the 
said  church.  This  decision  was  accordingly  carried  into 
effect  at  Dalkeith  on  30th  May,  1782  ;  on  which  occasion 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Lowe,  of  Biggar,  being  moderator,  preached 
from  Psalm  lxxi.  16,  "I  will  go  in  the  strength  of  the  Lord 
God." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever,  that  the  subject  of  this 
memoir,  with  a  mind  constituted  like  his,  by  being  trans- 
lated to  London,  was  raised  to  a  sphere  where  his  exertions 
have  been  far  more  extensively  influential  in  advancing  the 


MEMORIALS    OF    HIS    MINISTRY    AT    NEWTOWN.  83 

general  interests  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  than  they  could  have 
been  had  he  presided  over  any  church  in  Scotland,  however 
respectable  or  numerous. 

He  preached  at  Newtown  for  the  last  time  on  May  5th,  1782, 
the  Sabbath  preceding  the  meeting  of  Synod  at  which  he  was 
translated  to  Wells  Street :  his  text  was  in  1  John,  iv.  8.  And 
on  19th  May  he  preached  at  Stitchell ;  and  it  being  understood 
that  he  would  not  again  preach  in  the  country  prior  to  his 
departure  for  London,  a  great  number  of  his  old  congregation 
attended,  though  it  was  about  twelve  miles  distant.  His  text 
that  day  was  from  Eph.  v.  2. 

After  the  lapse  of  nearly  half  a  century,  it  is  pleasant  to  find 
that  his  memory  is  still  cherished  with  grateful  recollections, 
and  that  his  name  is  never  mentioned  at  Newtown,  or  in  the 
adjacent  country,  but  in  terms  of  high  esteem  and  regard, 
though  few  of  his  congregation,  who  were  at  that  period  church 
members,  now  survive.  A  pious  and  very  aged  woman  gives 
the  following  simple  narrative  : — 

"  I  was  under  great  distress  of  mind  on  account  of  my 
husband's  death,  who  was  suddenly  taken  from  me  by  a 
fever,  and  left  me  with  three  helpless  children.  I  went  to 
hear  Mr.  Waugh,  who  was  then  minister  of  the  Burgher  con- 
gregation of  Newtown.  He  preached  on  the  words  :  '  These 
arc  they  that  have  come  out  of  great  tribulation,  and  have 
washed  their  robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb.'  The  sermon  had  such  a  powerful  effect  on  my  mind, 
that  it  disburdened  it  of  that  sadness  and  gloom  which  had 
hung  over  me  since  my  husband's  death  ;  I  then  became  a 
constant  hearer  at  his  meeting-house.  His  ministrations 
were  greatly  blessed  at  that  place.  He  once  preached  a  very 
alarming  sermon  on  that  text :  '  But  they  made  light  of  it.' 
These  were  some  of  his  expressions  :  '  I  take  witnesses  this 
day,  the  stones  and  the  timber  of  this  house,  that  I  have  made 
offer  to  you  of  the  great  salvation  purchased  for  you  by  Jesus 
Christ,  If  it  should  be  asked  me  on  the  great  day,  Did 
you  make  offer  to  these  poor  sinners  of  the  great  salvation  of 
the  Gospel  ?    I  shall  be  constrained  to  say,  Yes,  Lord ;   but 


84  MEMORIALS    OF    HIS    MINISTRY    AT    NEWTOWN. 

they  made  light  of  it.'  The  last  sermon  he  preached  at  New- 
town was  on  these  words,  '  God  is  love.'  He  once  used  an 
expression  in  prayer  about  the  love  of  Christ,  which,"  said  she, 
weeping,  "  I  have  never  forgotten  :  '  It  is  deep  as  the  grave 
in  which  he  lay,  high  as  the  heaven  to  which  he  ascended, 
ancient  as  eternity,  and  lasting  as  the  interests  of  your  immortal 
souls.' " 

A  respectable  member  of  the  congregation,  now  residing 
in  Peebles,  has  also  favored  us  with  a  few  notices  regarding 
his  ministrations  at  Newtown : — "  During  the  time  Mr. 
Waugh  remained  there,  the  church  was  always  full.  Many 
respectable  individuals  in  the  neighborhood,  belonging  to 
the  established  church,  regularly  attended  his  ministry,  and 
would  have  become  connected  with  the  Secession  had  he  con- 
tinued. There  was  a  general  impression  on  the  minds  of  the 
people,  that  he  would  not  be  permitted  to  remain  long  with 
them.  Each  Sabbath  he  had  a  new  text ;  and  always  fin- 
ished his  subject  not  only  to  the  admiration  of  those  who 
heard  it  at  the  time,  but  even  at  this  distant  period  his 
method  of  preaching  is  spoken  of  with  delight  by  those  of 
his  hearers  who  still  survive.  The  Lord's  Supper  was  only 
dispensed  once  during  his  ministry  at  Newtown:  it  was 
attended  by  a  great  multitude,  from  the  surrounding  congre- 
gations of  Selkirk,  Stow,  Stitchell,  Kelso,  and  Jedburgh. 
Ilis  action  sermon  was  on  Ephesians  i.  7,  and  made  a  very 
deep  impression  on  all  who  heard  it.  His  directions  after 
the  table  services  were  greatly  admired.  The  individual 
who  furnishes  this  information  was  one  of  the  hearers,  and 
distinctly  recollects  the  introduction  to  the  address,  which 
was  in  the  following  words  :  '  My  brethren,  is  there  a  reality 
in  religion  ?  Yes,  there  is :  but  supposing  there  were  no 
reality,  still  we,  the  professors  of  it,  have  the  advantage  of 
others,  it  makes  us  better  members  of  society,  better  hus- 
bands, better  wives,  better  parents,  and  better  children,  bet- 
ter servants,  and  better  masters,  and  happier  in  all  our  rela- 
tions in  life.'  He  then  entered  into  a  proof  and  illustration 
of  religion,  as  revealed  in  the  Gospel,  and  confirmed  by  the 


MEMORIALS    OF    HIS    MINISTRY    AT    NEWTOWN.  85 

glory  of  the  Lamb  in  heaven  ;  and  concluded  that  part  of 
the  service  in  a  manner  never  before  witnessed  in  so  young  a 
person.  Mr.  Coventry,  of  Stitchell,  under  whom  he  was 
brought  up,  was  assisting  at  the  Sacrament,  and  present 
when  that  address  was  given ;  and  on  retiring  to  take  re- 
freshment, he  said  to  some  individuals  that  were  with  him,  '  O 
what  lofty  expressions !  what  exalted  views  of  the  perfections 
of  the  Almighty  !  O  what  a  bright  star  this  young  man  prom- 
ises to  be !' 

"It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  his  addresses  to  communicants 
were  always  singularly  impressive ;  and  it  appears  from  the 
above  details,  that  the  two  parts  of  pulpit  services  in  which  he 
afterwards  most  peculiarly  excelled,  namely,  prayer  and  commu- 
nion addresses,  are  also  the  parts  most  vividly  remembered  by 
those  who  heard  him  fifty  years  ago." 

"During  the  opportunities  he  had  of  mixing  with  his  people, 
his  conversation  was  cheerful  and  always  edifying,  and  particu- 
larly soothing  to  those  in  distress,  when  he  was  called  to  visit 
them.  And  it  may  be  observed,  that  whenever  the  name  of 
Mr.  Waugh  is  mentioned  to  any  of  the  few  yet  remaining  alive 
who  heard  him  at  Newtown,  their  countenances  brighten,  and 
their  hearts  glow  with  pleasure,  while  they  recite  any  circum- 
stance they  remember  respecting  him." 


CHAPTER  II. 

Mr.  Waugh's  ministry  in  London.  Visit  to  Scotland  in  1783.  Private 
diary.  His  marriage.  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  Alexander  Easton. 
Intercourse  with  Rev.  John  Newton.  Deliverance  from  danger  at 
eea.  Address  to  the  congregation  on  his  illness.  Visit  to  Scotland 
in  1806,  for  recovery  of  health.  Memorial  on  the  Psalmody.  Con- 
gregational addresses.  Accident  at  Clapton  in  1823.  Increasing  in- 
firmities. Letters  to  old  friends — youthful  reminiscences.  Letters 
from  Harrowgate.  Funeral  sermon  on  Rev.  Dr.  Bogue.  Delight  in 
ministerial  duties.  Kindness  and  liberality  of  his  congregation.  Cor- 
respondence respecting  an  assistant.  His  last  public  services.  Char- 
acter of  his  pulpit  ministrations.  His  lectures  in  Fetter  Lane,  &c. 
Congregational  labors.  Anecdote.  ISTon-interference  in  church  secu- 
larises.    Christian  liberality. 

When  a  minister  removes  from  one  part  of  the  church  to  an- 
other, the  change  will  lead  to  serious  reflections.  Besides  the 
painful  feelings  of  separation,  he  will  often  find  reason  for  bitter 
regret,  in  the  recollection  of  various  instances  of  important  du- 
ties which  have  been  neglected,  with  many  precious  opportuni- 
ties of  doing  good,  never  to  return ;  and  many  anxieties  will 
press  on  his  mind  regarding  the  difficulties  of  his  new  situation, 
the  temptations  to  which  he  may  be  exposed,  the  obstructions 
he  may  have  to  surmount,  and  the  steadfastness  of  the  affection 
expressed  by  the  people  among  whom  he  is  probably  to  spend 
the  remainder  of  his  life. 

The  station  to  which  Mr.  Waugh  was  now  appointed,  as 
minister  of  the  Secession  church  in  London,  involved  in  it 
arduous  duties  of  a  different  kind  from  those  which  had 
hitherto  occupied  his  attention  in  a  small  country  charge, 
arising  out  of  the  various  classes  of  which  his  new  congrega- 
tion was  composed,  the  different  occupations  in  which  they 
were  engaged,  the  dangerous  temptations  to  which  they  were 


LETTERS    FROM    THE    ELDERS    OP    WELLS    STREET.  87 

exposed,  and  the  particular  habits  of  life  they  had  formed, — all 
which  required  that  his  prayers,  his  instructions,  and  the  whole 
tenor  of  his  ministrations,  should  be  adapted  to  the  changed 
circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed.  If  he  felt  deeply  anx- 
ious in  this  important  crisis  about  his  future  prospects,  the  fol- 
lowing letter  from  the  elders  of  Wells  Street  must  have  been 
consolatory  to  his  mind,  by  leading  him  to  cherish  a  pleasing- 
anticipation,  that  the  prayers  of  such  men  would  assuredly  draw 
down  from  on  high  rich  and  seasonable  blessings  on  both  their 
minister  and  conoreo-ation. 

o      o 

"London,  May  20,  1782. 
"  Rev.  and  Dear  Sir, — It  gives  us  great  pleasure  and  satisfac- 
tion, for  which  we  cannot  be  sufficiently  thankful,  that  the  great 
and  compassionate  Minister  of  the  upper  sanctuary  hath  confer- 
red on  us  the  near  and  pleasant  prospect  of  the  fulfilment  of  one 
of  his  gracious  words  to  us,  though  altogether  unworthy  '  that 
our  eyes  shall  see  our  teachers,'  and  that  we  shall  have  one  to 
break  the  bread  of  life  among  us,  and  to  be  an  instrument  in  the 
Lord's  hand  of  spreading  the  renowned  fame  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  not  to  the  present  only,  but  also  to  the  rising  generation. 
Blessings  are  doubly  sweet  when  they  are  received  as  the  answer 
of  prayer.  It  has  been  our  concern,  though  with  much  imper- 
fection and  much  unbelief,  to  ask  a  pastor  from  the  Lord ;  and 
we  hope  he  hath  heard  us.  Therefore,  we  desire  to  take  the 
blessing  from  his  gracious  hand,  and  to  render  unfeigned  thanks- 
giving. It  is  our  earnest  prayer,  that  the  Lord  may  speedily 
supply  the  people  of  Newtown,  and  make  up  their  present  loss  ;  and 
that  he  may  direct  your  way  to  us  in  the  fulness  of  the  Gospel  of 
peace." 

We  arc  indebted  for  the  following  incident  to  one  of  his 
earliest  friends  at  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  to  whom  we 
have  referred  in  a  preceding  part  of  this  Memoir: — "When 
he  left  Scotland,  to  take  charge  of  the  con  ore  nation  in  Wells 
Street,  three  of  us,  his  sincere  friends,  nut  him  at  llorndean, 
near  Oornhill,  where,  next  morning,  he  was  to  take  the  coach 
for  London.  He  lay  down  upon  a  bed  to  prepare  himself  for 
the  fatigue  of  the  journey ;   we  sat  by  him ;   and  one  of  the 


88  COURSE    OF    MINISTERIAL    SERVICE. 

most  important  subjects  of  conversation  was  regarding  the 
way  in  which  a  Christian  missionary  should  conduct  himself 
in  introducing  the  Gospel  among  rude  and  heathen  nations, 
— a  conversation  in  which  he  warmly  joined.  Of  the  four 
present,  Mr.  Waugh  was  afterwards  eminently  useful  in 
bringing  forward  and  establishing  the  London  Missionary 
Society." 

He  arrived  at  London  on  the  14th,  and  commenced  his 
ministry  in  Wells  Street  on  the  16th  June,  1782.  His  first 
sermon  was  from  Psalm  xlv.  2  :  "  Thou  art  fairer  than  the 
children  of  men ;  grace  is  poured  into  thy  lips :  therefore 
God  hath  blessed  thee  forever."  In  this  discourse  he  gave 
utterance  to  that  ardent  and  affectionate  regard  to  the  best 
of  masters  which  glowed  in  his  bosom,  and  which  communi- 
cated so  much  life  and  character  to  the  whole  of  his  ministry, 
manifesting  on  every  occasion  that  he  was  indeed  a  minister 
of  whom  it  might  be  said,  "  out  of  the  fulness  of  his  heart 
his  mouth  spake."  He  had  three  services  every  Sabbath : 
lecturing  in  the  forenoon,  and  preaching  in  the  afternoon  and 
the  evening ;  and  this  he  regularly  continued  till  near  his 
death.  His  first  communion  was  on  the  10th  November, 
1782,  when  he  preached  from  Isaiah  lii.  14.  Agreeably  to 
the  practice  of  the  Secession  church,  he  observed  a  day  of 
fasting  along  with  the  congregation  in  the  preceding  week, 
when  he  preached  twice;  preaching  also  on  the  Saturday 
evening,  when,  after  public  worship  was  concluded,  tokens 
of  admission  to  the  Lord's  table  were  distributed  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  congregation.  During  the  first  year  of  his  minis- 
try he  was  not  absent  for  a  single  Sabbath  from  his  church  ; 
and  preached  only  twice  out  of  his  own  pulpit  on  week  days, 
once  at  Penge  Common  (where  he  then  lodged)  to  a  small 
congregation  on  the  green. 

For  some  years  after  his  settlement  in  London  he  spent 
a  great  part  of  his  time  in  retirement,  and  employed  himself 
in  reviewing  his  classical  studies,  in  a  critical  perusal  of  the 
sacred  Scriptures,  in  reading  various  writers  on  doctrinal  and 
practical   theology,  and    in    making  himself  acquainted  with 


HIS    PRIVATE    DIARY.  89 

general  literature;  so  that  his  mind  was  richly  stored  with 
important  and  valuable  information  on  every  topic  he  was 
called  to  discuss.  When  his  public  avocations  became  after- 
wards very  numerous,  he  was  accustomed,  in  conversing-  with 
his  younger  brethren,  occasionally  to  refer,  with  his  usual 
modesty,  to  that  course  of  diligent  and  laborious  study  which 
he  had  found  so  advantageous,  not  only  to  his  ministerial 
labors,  but  also  in  greatly  furthering  the  exertions  he  had  been 
enabled  to  make,  along  with  pious  and  good  men,  to  extend 
the  interests  of  religion  and  charity  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

In  the  summer  of  1*783  he  revisited  his  native  country, 
where  he  continued  about  six  weeks,  generally  preaching  three 
times  every  Sabbath. 

His  private  diary,  from  which  we  have  previously  taken 
some  interesting  extracts,  will  pleasingly  aid  us  in  carrying 
forward  this  section  of  the  memoir.  This  brief  record  was 
so  secretly  kept,  that  none  of  his  family  were  aware  of  its 
existence  till  it  was  discovered,  among  some  other  papers,  after 
his  decease.  It  appears  to  have  been  written  solely  to  assist 
his  own  grateful  recollections  of  what  Divine  goodness  had 
done  for  himself  and  his  family,  and  to  give  expression  to  the 
devout  aspirations  of  his  heart  to  the  God  of  all  his  mercies. 
Many  of  the  subsequent  extracts  will  be  deemed  valuable,  not 
merely  as  a  record  of  transactions  and  events,  but  as  affording 
a  faithful  representation  of  the  prominent  features  of  his  mind, 
and  particularly  of  the  fervent  piety  which  glowed  in  his  bosom 
towards  that  heavenly  Friend,  "  who  seeth  in  secret,"  into 
whose  ear  he  was  accustomed  to  pour  forth  the  unreserved  and 
confidential  breathings  of  his  soul. 

lie  thus  notices  the  death  of  his  revered  father,  the  intelli- 
gence of  whose  dangerous  illness  had  hastened  his  journey  to 
Scotland  : 

"July  6,  1*783. — It  was  six  hours  after  his  departure  that 
I  arrived  at  Caldron-I3rae ;  where  I  found  my  dear,  my  ex- 
cellent mother,  with  my  brother  and  sister,  dissolved  in  grief, 
yet  wonderfully  supported  by  the  consolations  of  our  holy 
religion.     This  was  on  Sabbath ;  and  on  the  Tuesday  follow- 


90  LETTER    OF    ADMONITION. 

ing,  according  to  the  usage  of  the  country,  he  was  buried  in 
the  church-yard  of  Gordon,  and  his  funeral  attended  by  a 
large  and  respectable  number  of  the  friends  of  the  family. 
It  happened,  providentially,  that  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  dispensed  on  the  following  Sabbath  at  Stitchell ; 
the  solemn  services  of  which  were  found  strengthening  to  our 
hearts. 

"  And  now,  blessed  God !  when  my  earthly  father  is  re- 
moved from  me,  do  thou  take  me  up.  Under  thy  wise,  and 
kind,  and  powerful  administration,  I  shall  enjoy  more  safe 
guidance,  more  tender  care,  and  more  sure  protection,  than 
from  any  created  relation  I  could  ever  receive.  I  look  up  to 
thee ;  on  thine  arm  will  I  lean.  Guide  me  with  thy  counsel 
while  here,  and  afterwards  receive  me  to  glory.  Be  thou  the 
husband  of  my  widowed  mother,  and  the  father  of  her  chil- 
dren. Bind  us  together  with  the  cords  of  love,  and  enable  us 
to  soften  and  to  smooth  the  rugged  paths  of  old  age  to  her 
feet." 

It  would  appear,  from  a  long  letter  addressed  to  him  by 
one  of  his  most  intimate  friends,  soon  after  his  settlement  in 
London,  that  his  great  acceptability,  not  only  as  a  minister, 
but  in  the  intercourse  of  private  life,  and  his  fondness  for 
literary  society,  excited  considerable  apprehension  in  the 
breasts  of  some  of  his  brethren  in  Scotland.  They  naturally 
dreaded  lest  his  pleasing  urbanity  of  manners,  his  social  frank- 
ness in  congenial  society,  and  his  generous  unsuspecting  tem- 
per, might  prove  snares  to  him,  by  alluring  him  too  much 
into  company,  which,  whatever  might  be  its  recommenda- 
tions in  some  respects,  had  a  tendency  to  occupy  his  thoughts 
with  other  pursuits  than  that  of  his  high  calling  ;  and  which, 
if  permitted  to  acquire  undue  influence  over  his  affections, 
might  even  bring  his  ministerial  character  and  usefulness  into 
imminent  hazard.  This  letter  of  admonition  is  too  long,  and 
otherwise  unfit,  for  insertion ;  but  we  may  observe,  that  it 
is  written  with  the  unreserved  plainness  and  earnestness  of 
warm  attachment,  and  is  equally  creditable  to  the  friend  who 
wrote,  and  to  him  who  received  and  carefully  preserved  it. 


HIS    MARRIAGE.  91 

It  is  a  great  blessing  to  a  young  man  to  possess  such  a 
friend ;  it  is  still  a  greater  to  be  so  worthy  of  one  as  was  the 
subject  of  this  memoir.  Whatever  were  the  fears  of  his  friends, 
they  were,  through  the  blessing  of  God,  soon  happily  removed, 
by  his  diligent  devotedness  to  his  ministerial  labors,  and  by 
the  secluded  studies  to  which  for  some  years  he  chiefly  de- 
voted his  leisure  hours.  His  marriage,  which  took  place 
three  years  afterwards,  opened  to  his  heart  a  new  range  of 
duties  and  enjoyments,  for  which  he  was  by  natural  disposi- 
tion most  peculiarly  adapted.  The  increase  of  his  family, 
though  necessarily  bringing  with  it  many  temporal  privations 
and  many  anxious  cares,  was  yet  accompanied  with  blessings 
and  comforts  which  few  men  were  ever  more  fitted  than  he 
deeply  to  appreciate.  The  new  relationships  of  husband  and 
father,  while  they  unlocked  the  hidden  fountains  of  his  heart, 
by  developing  all  his  teuder  sympathies  and  solicitudes,  en- 
riched him  at  the  same  time,  in  the  only  mode  in  which  he 
ever  coveted  riches,  by  an  abundant  harvest  of  reciprocal  affec- 
tion. 

In  his  diary,  his  marriage  is  thus  recorded  : — 
"August  10,  17SG. — After  regular  proclamation  of  bans  in 
the  churches  of  St.  Mary-le-bone  and  of  St.  Clement  Danes,  I 
was  married,  by  the  Rev.  John  Kiddoch,  minister  in  Cold- 
stream, to  my  dear  wife,  at  her  fathers  house,  in  Edincrow,  in 
the  parish  of  Coldingham,  and  county  of  Berwick." 

His  aged  widow  (whose  maiden  name  was  Mary  Neill)  still 
lives  to  weep  over  his  grave,  and  to  anticipate  with  humble 
hope  that  "  gathering  day"  to  which  he  so  often  and  so  con- 
fidently alluded.  It  were  indelicate,  therefore,  to  record  more 
prominently  than  by  referring  to  his  letters  to  her,  how 
richly  he  experienced  the  fulfilment  of  the  blessings  promised 
by  the  inspired  author  of  the  Proverbs  to  the  possession 
of  a  pious,  prudent,  and  devoted  wife.  May  the  testimony 
so  feelingly  given  by  her  husband  to  her  devoted  kindness, 
fidelity,  and  prudence,  and  the  affectionate  gratitude  of  her 
numerous  family  for  her  tender  care  and  pious  counsels,  be 
taken  by  her  as  a  pledge  of  the  faithfulness  of  Hra  who  hath 


92  DOMESTIC    BLESSINGS. 

promised  to  every  such  mother,  "  Her  children  shall  arise  up 
and  call  her  blessed  ;  her  husband  also,  and  he  shall  praise 
her."  It  is  incumbent,  however,  on  the  writer  to  state  one 
fact — a  fact  which,  if  unnoticed,  would  justly  expose  him  and 
others  to  the  charge  of  an  ungrateful  omission,  viz.,  that  Dr. 
Waugh  was  deeply  indebted  to  the  sincere  and  unvarying 
friendship  which  this  marriage  created  between  him  and  his 
brother-in-law,  Mr.  Neill,  of  Surrey  Street,  London,  for  those 
constant  and  delicate  attentions  to  his  domestic  comfort,  and 
for  that  cordial  co-operation  in  every  plan  calculated  to  advance 
the  interests  of  his  numerous  children,  which  distinguished  the 
conduct  of  that  valued  and  surviving  relative. — We  revert  to 
the  diary  : — 

"  May  7,  1787. — It  graciously  pleased  God  to  preserve  my 
dear  wife,  and  to  give  her  a  son,  whom  at  his  baptism,  on  July 
22,  we  named  Thomas,  from  respect  to  the  memory  of  my 
worthy  father." 

In  a  subsequent  page  of  this  record,  we  find  the  following 
testimony  of  his  devout  gratitude  to  the  Bestower  of  all  good 
for  the  domestic  blessings  with  which  he  was  surrounded  : — 

"January  1,  1793. — Blessed  be  God,  who  is  the  health 
of  my  constitution  and  the  length  of  my  days,  for  preserving 
me  till  the  beginning  of  another  year.  My  family  all  in  good 
health,  and  our  prospects  in  life  serene.  Several  of  my  dear 
flock  have  been  summoned  away  to  the  eternal  world,  who 
bade  much  fairer  to  enjoy  more  days  than  I  did.  Let  the 
life  hitherto  spared  in  the  long  suffering  of  God,  be  devoted 
to  his  honor,  and  spent  in  his  service.  Father  of  mercies, 
I  am  thine  !  Thou  hast  redeemed  my  life  from  sickness,  and 
my  soul  from  sin.  Thou  art  lengthening  out  the  love  of  re- 
lationship, the  kindness  of  friendship,  and  all  the  joys  which 
the  ministry  of  thy  Son  bestows  on  my  heart.  Quicken  my 
diligence  in  thy  service  ;  make  me  faithful  to  the  souls  of  thy 
people,  who  are  the  purchase  of  thy  Son's  blood,  and  the  care 
of  thy  Providence ;  bless  them  all  with  increasing  measures 
of  personal  and  family  religion  ;  unite  our  hearts  and  hands 
in    every  good  and    pious  work.      May    my   dear    wife   and 


SERMON    ON    MR.    E ASTON  S    ORDINATION.  93 

children  continue  to  enjoy  health  and  peace ;  let  thy  fear  be  im- 
planted in  their  tender  minds ;  preserve  them  from  sin  and  bad 
company ;  preserve  them  from  the  dangers  to  which  they  are 
exposed,  in  the  diseases  that  lie  thick  in  the  early  stages  of  life ; 
form  them  for  thyself,  that  they  may  show  forth  thy  praise. 
Abundantly  bless  us  all  through  this  year ;  make  us  to  grow 
in  grace,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ.     Amen." 

The  formation  of  the  second  congregation  in  London  con- 
nected with  the  Burgher  division  of  the  Secession  Church, 
arose  from  the  circumstance  of  a  considerable  number  of  the 
members  of  Wells  Street  chapel  living  at  the  east  end  of  the 
town.  It  was  judged  highly  proper  on  that  account,  as  well 
as  for  the  extension  of  the  interests  of  the  Secession  body, 
that  these  should  form  themselves  into  a  separate  congrega- 
tion. The  moderator  and  session  of  Wells  Street,  to  accom- 
plish an  object  so  desirable,  engaged,  in  June  1*790,  a  chapel 
in  Redcross  Street.  Providence  so  favored  this  enterprise, 
that  by  supplies  of  acceptable  ministers  being  sent  to  them 
from  the  Synod,  the  people  soon  found  themselves  in  such  a 
prosperous  state,  that  they  petitioned  the  Presbytery  to  con- 
stitute them  into  a  distinct  congregation.  The  Rev.  Alexander 
Easton  was  subsequently  chosen  to  be  their  pastor,  and  was  or- 
dained on  the  27th  September,  1792,  a  short  time  prior  to  their 
removal  to  Miles'  Lane.  The  sermon  before  the  ordination  was 
preached  by  the  minister  of  Wells  Street,  from  Galatians  iv.  19, 
"  My  little  children,  of  whom  I  travail  in  birth  again  until 
Christ  be  formed  in  you."  The  diary  refers  to  this  subject  in 
the  following  terms: — 

''January  14th,  1793. — Published,  at  the  request  of  the 
elders,  the  sermon  preached  upon  Mr.  Easton's  ordination. — 
Blessed  God!  may  my  own  heart  feel  the  ministerial  concern 
which  I  endeavor  to  describe,  and  those  Scriptural  motives 
by  which  I  would  encourage  it.  If  I  do  not  exemplify,  in 
my  public  ministrations,  what  I  recommend  to  others,  I  shall 
stand  condemned  by  my  own  lips,  and  my  sermon  will  furnish 
articles  of  accusation  against  me.     Blessed  Jesus !  may  I  feel 


94  LETTER    FROM    THE    KEY.    JOHN    NEWTON. 

thy  love,  and  be  inspired  with  cheerfulness  and  ardor  in  thy 
cause.  May  this  discourse  be  read  by  the  ministers  of  re- 
ligion, with  the  Holy  Ghost  sent  down  from  heaven.  May  it 
be  made  by  God,  however  weak  in  itself,  an  effectual  instru- 
ment of  arousing  the  slothful,  and  confirming  them  that  waver 
between  the  authority  of  God  and  the  love  of  the  world. 
May  it  please  thee  to  secure  from  contempt  and  opposition 
thine  own  truths  contained  in  it,  and  to  pardon  the  excep- 
tionable manner  in  which,  through  my  ignorance,  vanity,  or 
weakness,  they  may  be  represented.  Eminently  bless  my 
dear  brother  in  Christ,  at  whose  separation  to  thy  work  they 
were  delivered ;  may  he  also  be  enabled  to  travail  in  birth 
till  Christ  be  formed  in  the  minds  of  his  people ;  may  a  spirit 
of  mutual  and  profitable  godly  affection  be  poured  out  on  us 
both,  and  we  be  helped  to  labor  diligently  in  the  vineyard,  and 
see  the  plants  of  the  Lord  thrive  and  become  fruitful  under 
our  care." 

A  copy  of  the  sermon  on  Mr.  Easton's  ordination  having 
been  forwarded,  among  other  friends,  to  the  Rev.  John  New- 
ton, it  was  acknowledged  by  him  in  the  following  terms ; 
evincing  the  fervent  cordiality  with  which  these  servants  of 
the  Captain  of  salvation,  though  there  was  "some  difference 
in  their  regimentals,"  as  Newton  expresses  it,  united  their 
hearts  in  promoting  the  cause  of  the  high  calling  to  which  they 
were  pledged  : — 

"Coleman  Street  Buildings,  Jan.  24,  1793. 

"  Rev.  and  Dear  Sir, — I  heartily  thank  you  for  your  accepta- 
ble present  of  your  Ordination  Sermon,  which  I  have  read  with 
pleasure.  May  the  Lord  make  a  deeper  impression  of  the  great 
truths  and  motives  you  propose  upon  my  heart ;  and  may  his  bless- 
ing rest  upon  you  and  upon  your  friend,  and  upon  your  respective 
congregations ! 

"I  trust  that  you  and  I,  though  there  is  some  difference  in 
our  regimentals,  belong  to  one  army,  under  the  one  Captain  of 
salvation.  Our  weapons,  our  resources,  our  aims,  and  our  ene- 
mies, are  the  same.  And  while  the  good  soldier  is  concerned  to 
maintain  his  own  particular  post,  he  feels  an  equal  concern  with 
the  rest  for  the  success  of  the  whole.     On  whatever  side  the  foe 


KEV.    JOHN     NEWTON.  U«3 

is  pushed,  and  advantages  gained  to  the  common  cause,  he  will  re- 
joice whether  it  be  effected  by  those  who  do,  or  who  do  not,  wear 
exactly  his  own  uniform.  My  heart  and  hands,  dear  Sir,  are  with 
you,  and  with  all  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  go  forth 
under  his  banner. 

';  When  the  campaign  is  happily  terminated,  the  ministers  and 
people  of  the  word  will  be  found  more  than  conquerors,  and  shall 
assemble  to  join  in  the  songs  of  triumph.  Then  all  our  present 
petty  distinctions  shall  cease,  and  wo  shall  be  perfectly  and  for  ever 
united  in  one  heart  and  one  mind.  The  more  this  spirit  of  union 
prevails  at  present,  the  more  the  church  militant  will  resemble  the 
church  triumphant.  In  the  mean  time,  the  same  Lord  of  all  is  rich 
in  mercy  to  all  that  call  upon  him. 

"  Your  obliged  and  affectionate  friend  and  brother, 

"  John  Newton." 

While  referring  to  Mr.  Newton,  we  may  notice,  that  Mr, 
Waugh  used  frequently  to  introduce  to  him  such  of  his 
Scottish  brethren  as  happened  to  visit  London,  and  who  were 
naturally  anxious  to  see  that  distinguished  writer  and  excel- 
lent man.  On  one  of  those  occasions,  Mr.  Waugh  said, — 
"  Well,  Sir,  I  have  brought  another  of  my  Northern  friends  to 
see  you."  "  Ah,  my  brother,"  said  the  venerable  Newton,  "  I 
was  once  a  wild  lion  on  the  coast  of  Africa  ;  there  God  took 
me  and  tamed  me,  and  brought  me  to  London  ;  and  now  you 
are  come  to  see  me  as  they  do  the  lions  in  the  Tower !" 

Besides  his  intercourse  with  Mr.  Newton  and  other  pious 
ministers  of  different  denominations,  Mr.  Waugh  was  at  this 
period,  and  had  been  for  several  years,  on  most  affectionate 
terms  of  Christian  brotherhood  with  the  Scotch  Presbyterian 
ministers  in  London  ;  viz.  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hunter,  Rev.  John 
Love,  Rev.  James  Steven,  and  Rev.  George  Jerment,  who 
will  be  afterwards  more  particularly  noticed,  as  associated 
with  him  in  the  institution  of  the  London  Missionary  Society. 
Ill  the  establishment  also  of  the  Evangelical  Magazine,  which 
tended  so  much  to  promote  the  objects  of  that  society,  he 
took  at  this  time  a  very  active  share.  But  to  this  subject  we 
shall  revert  in  the  next  chapter.  We  now  proceed  with  the 
diary. 


96  DIARY,    JUNE    11,    1*793. 

"Feb.  12,  1793. — Reflections  preparatory  to  the  public 
service  of  to-morrow,  the  day  of  fasting  before  the  holy 
communion. 

"  Blessed  and  holy  Father !  pour  out  on  my  darkened  and 
obdurate  mind  the  enlightening  and  softening  aids  of  thy 
good  Spirit,  that  I  may  look  on  my  heart  with  impartiality, 
and  sincerely  mourn  over  its  corruptions.  The  more  I  look 
on  my  nature,  the  more  reason  have  I  to  be  displeasd  with  its 
prevailing  inclinations.  There  dwells  in  ray  heart  naturally 
no  good  thing ;  but  there  dwell  in  it  hordes  of  carnal,  selfish, 
and  proud  dispositions,  notwithstanding  all  the  care  which 
my  venerable  parents  took  of  my  education,  and  all  the 
privileges  I  have  long  enjoyed.  How  turbulent  have  been 
the  risings  of  corruption  within  me,  and  to  what  imminent 
danger  have  my  character,  my  peace  of  mind  as  connected 
with  it,  the  credit  of  that  holy  religion  of  which  I  make  pro- 
fession, the  comfort  of  my  affectionate  relations,  and  my 
future  estate  in  life,  been  thereby  exposed  !  In  midst  of  de- 
liverances from  the  flood  and  from  the  flame,  from  the  just 
alarms  of  an  awakened  conscience,  from  feared  reproach, 
from  the  snares  of  the  designing  and  the  selfish,  how  ungrate- 
ful has  my  heart  been !  In  prosperous  estate,  how  forgetful 
of  the  vows  which  in  ray  trouble  I  made  to  the  Lord  !  Father* 
forgive  what  thy  pure  eyes  behold  to  be  base,  treacherous,  and 
ungrateful  in  the  past  workings  of  ray  heart ;  sanctify  me  by 
thy  word ;  preserve  me  from  falling ;  aid  me  in  the  services 
of  to-morrow." 

"June  11,  1793. — -Thoughts  on  Mrs.  Waugh's  journey  to 
Scotland,  on  Sabbath  last,  with  some  of  the  children,  for  the 
recovery  of 's  health. 

"  Long  hath  the  good  providence  of  my  heavenly  Father 
vouchsafed  to  the  family  health  and  comfortable  estate :  for 
the  space  of  more  than  six  years  have  the  mother  and  the 
children  been  well,  notwithstanding  the  unhealthy  nature  of 
the  place,  and  the  daily  danger  of  bringing  disease  into  the 
family,  to  which  ray  profession  exposes  me.  But  the  storm 
at  length    begins  to  gather,  and  our  feeble  minds  shrink  at 


DIABY,  October  25,  1*793.  97 

the  prospect  of  the  blast.  The  disorder  which  effects  our 
dear  child  is  of  the  most  alarming  nature;  there  is  little 
ground  to  hope  that  her  constitution  will  ever  overcome  the 
malignity  of  the  distemper.  But  thou,  my  Father  in  heaven, 
hast  done  it ;  and  I  desire  to  bow  down  before  thy  will* 
What  am  I,  that  I  should  speak  again  to  God  ?  It  is  well. 
0  for  a  more  resigned  and  composed  spirit !  Thou  art  just 
when  thou  judgest,  and  clear  of  all  blame  when  thou  thus 
speakest  bitter  things  to  us.  We  have  sinned,  and  what  shall 
we  say  against  thee  1  O  alleviate  the  pressure  of  the  disorder ! 
Strengthen  the  mother  to  bear  up  under  the  trial ;  make  the 
means  used  successful  for  the  end  desired ;  and  0  disap- 
point our  fears  !  Preserve  them  all  on  the  mighty  waters, 
and  carry  them  in  safety  to  the  desired  haven.  May  good 
accounts  be  received  from  them,  and  my  oppressed  heart  be 
relieved.  Thou  art  my  God,  and  I  will  lean  on  thee.  In 
many  former  hardships  and  fears,  thou  broughtest  comfort; 
thou  hast  never  yet  deserted  me,  and  my  hope  is  in  thee. 
May  I  be  kept  in  the  path  of  duty  in  their  absence.  May 
the  holy  purposes  in  the  Divine  mind,  of  this  dispensation, 
be  fully  gained  in  my  heart.  From  this  world  may  I  be 
weaned  as  a  portion,  and  my  soul  return  to  thee  as  her  rest- 
ing-place. May  I  be  enabled  to  bring  up  my  children  in 
the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  my  dear  wife  be  helped  to  take  her 
part  willingly  and  faithfully  in  the  important  duty.  We 
both  look  up  to  thee  as  our  Father  and  Friend.  We  have 
few  to  look  to  on  earth,  though  many,  many  more  than  we 
deserve.  But  thou  art  our  divine,  abiding,  and  all-sufficient 
Friend.  We  would  not  wander  from  thee :  this  were  to 
wander  far  from  our  happiness,  our  honor,  and  our  privilege. 
May  this  blast  bring  in  our  straying  affections  and  confidence  to 
the  covert  of  thy  power,  and  the  well-spring  of  thy  love.  Near 
to  thee  may  we  ever  walk,  on  thy  arm  may  we  ever  lean,  with 
thy  countenance  may  we  be  cheered  and  comforted  through 
all  our  journey." 

"October  25,  1*93.— Reflections   on  my  safe  arrival  yester- 
day with  Mrs.  Waiiffh  and  the  children  from  Berwick. 


98  LETTER   TO    MRS.    WAUGH. 

"  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God,  who  hath  not  turned  away 
our  prayers  from  him,  nor  his  face  from  us.  Under  the 
means  prescribed,  he  hath  graciously  put  a  check  on  the 
child's  disorder,  confirmed  her  general  health,  and  encouraged 
us  to  hope  that  she  may  yet  outgrow  the  distemper.  He 
whom  winds  and  seas  obey  hath  vouchsafed  to  us  a  pleasant 
passage,  and  brought  us  all  in  perfect  safety  to  our  peaceful 
home.  May  Jehovah,  the  healer,  mercifully  heal  our  spirit- 
ual maladies,  our  unbelief,  our  pride,  our  worldly-minded- 
ness,  our  indifference  about  the  concerns  of  the  soul,  and  re- 
store our  nature  to  its  primitive  soundness  and  beauty.  O 
that  our  dear  children  may  live  before  him,  and  we  be  en- 
abled to  educate  them  in  his  fear  !  Many  are  the  dangers 
that  surround  us  in  this  ensnariug  and  wicked  place.  May  the 
Lord,  who  preserved  Lot  in  Sodom,  preserve  their  young  minds 
pure  and  unsullied,  in  midst  of  abounding  iniquity  and  bad 
example.  We  are  required  to  bring  them  up  for  God.  May 
our  vows  at  their  baptism  be  felt  in  their  obligations  on  our 
souls,  and  it  be  our  daily  care  to  pay  them.  Strengthen  us,  our 
Father,  with  all  might  in  the  inner  man  to  do  ihy  will ;  for 
thou  art  our  God." 

The  following  extract  of  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Waugh  will  be  found 
interesting,  from  its  connection  with  the  extract  from  his  diary 
immediately  following : — 

"  Whitby,  Sept  24,  1798. 
"  By  a  letter  from  Berwick  on  Saturday,  I  was  informed  that 
Captain  Ramsay  would  sail  that  afrcrnoon,  and  that  he  had  pro- 
mised to  hang  out  a  signal  for  me  whenever  he  should  come  within 
sight  of  Whitby.  I  have  had  a  coble-man  looking  out  last  night 
and  this  morning,  but  there  is  no  appearance  of  the  ship  yet.  My 
things  are  all  put  up,  and  I  am  waiting  the  call  to  depart :  so 
should  our  souls  ever  be  in  readiness  to  leave  this  changing  world, 
when  God  shall  summon  us  away.  Yesterday  was  our  communion 
Sabbath  here,  and,  like  the  first  communion,  it  may  be  the  will  of 
God  that  I  shall  no  more  drink  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine  with  the 
church  below.  The  will  of  the  Lord  be  done.  I  leave  you,  my 
dearest  friend,  in  the  care  of  your  Father  and  your  God.  He  will 
not  leave  nor  forsake  you. 


DANGER    AT   SEA.  99 

"Lean  on  Him,  and  your  soul  shall  attain  divine  composure,    lie 

is  a  rock,  and  as  Dr.  Young  says,  '  All,  all   is  sea  besides.'" 

"September  26,  1798.— Went  on  board  the  Louch,  a 
sloop  of  Whitby,  bound  for  Hull,  on  my  return  to  London, 
whence  I  had  gone  five  or  six  weeks  ago  for  the  benefit  of 
my  health.  Before  wo  were  off  Robin  Hood's  Bay,  the  wind 
began  to  blow  high  from  the  north-east,  and  was  accompa- 
nied with  rain.  As  the  vessel  was  designed  only  to  run 
along  the  shore  to  Hull,  she  had  but  two  men  and  two  boys 
to  navigate  her.  About  midnight,  the  master  thought  him- 
self off  the  Spurn  Lights,  but  not  daring  to  venture  in,  he 
kept  the  vessel  out  to  sea.  The  wind  increasing  next  day, 
and  the  rain  continuing,  he  still  bore  out  from  the  land ;  and 
at  night  saw  the  Dudgeon  Lights  ;  we  passed  on  the  outside 
of  them,  so  near  as  to  hear  the  men  conversing  with  each 
other.  By  this  time  the  hoops  of  the  mainsail  were  almost 
all  torn  from  the  mast,  though  there  was  no  more  sail  than 
was  necessary  to  keep  the  vessel  steady  :  in  this  state  we 
drifted  all  the  night.  I  was  the  sole  passenger;  and  whe- 
ther it  was  from  the  fatigue  and  extreme  sickness  of  the  pre- 
ceding night,  viz.  the  26th,  or  from  my  solitary  situation,  in 
which  there  was  nobody  to  hold  any  religious  converse  with, 
or  from  the  apprehended  danger,  I  do  not  recollect  ever  to 
have  endured  such  sensations  of  distress.  The  thought  of 
leaving  this  world  and  appearing  before  the  judgment-seat  of 
God,  is  at  all  times  a  most  solemn  thought ;  it  was  rendered 
additionally  impressive  at  that  time  by  the  suddenness  of  the 
journey,  it  having  been  resolved  on  at  the  time  of  dinner  the 
preceding  day  ;  by  the  absence  of  my  religious  friends,  whose 
conversation  and  devotional  exercises  might  have  soothed  and 
assisted  the  enfeebled  mind  ;  and  especially  by  the  absence  of 
my  beloved  wife  and  children,  over  whose  future  bereaved 
condition  my  heart  hung  with  inexpressible  tenderness. 

"  On  the  morning  of  the  28th,  the  master  not  knowing 
where  he  then  was,  and  seeing  a  brig  making  her  course  to 
the  southward,  he  concluded  that  she  was  steering  for  Yar- 


100  GRATITUDE    FOR    DELIVERANCE. 

mouth  Roads  :  he  resolved  to  follow  her ;  and  the  more  so,  as 
he  himself  had  never  taken  a  vessel  into  the  Roads.  The 
sight  of  land,  near  Cromer,  gave  to  my  mind  unspeakable  sat- 
isfaction ;  and,  by  God's  gracious  providence,  we  anchored  be- 
side Lord  Duncan's  fleet,  in  the  Roads,  by  two  o'clock. 

"  Never,  O  my  soul !  never  let  this  day  pass  by,  without 
offering  up  fervent  supplications  to  God  for  all  endangered 
persons  who  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships,  and  see  God's  won- 
ders in  the  deep ;  nor  without  offering  up  the  devoutest 
thanksgivings  to  thy  Deliverer,  for  lengthening  out  thy  days 
on  earth,  for  hearing  the  voice  of  thy  prayer  in  the  day  of 
thy  calamity,  and  restoring  thee  in  safety  to  thy  family  and 
people." 

In  regard  to  this  providential  deliverance,  which  he  always 
mentioned,  when  the  subject  was  introduced,  in  terms  of  deep 
and  lively  gratitude,  one  of  his  family  has  subjoined  the  follow- 
ing particulars  : 

"  When  my  beloved  father  reached  the  shore,  he  imme- 
diately walked  to  the  churchyard,  and,  kneeling  behind  a 
grave-stone,  poured  out  his  heart  in  gratitude  to  his  God  and 
his  deliverer.  After  which,  rinding  himself  quite  worn  out 
with  fatigue  and  anxiety,  and  wanting  much  the  comfort  of  a 
Christian  friend,  he  wandered  through  the  burial-ground,  to  find 
an  introduction  to  one  who  served  his  Master.  On  a  newly 
made  tomb  it  was  said  that  the  departed  had  died  in  Jesus. 
This  was  what  he  wished  :  he  went  to  the  house  where  the 
family  resided,  introduced  himself,  and  told  his  interesting  tale, 
and  with  the  aid  of  their  kindness  and  hospitality  was  soon 
able  to  pursue  his  journey.  I  have  often  heard  him  speak, 
with  the  tear  in  his  eye,  of  the  despair  and  anxiety  the  poor 
sailors  felt,  when  they  feared  their  little  bark  would  sink  ;  and 
with  what  pleasure  he  saw  them  join  him  in  his  prayer  to 
God  for  protection  and  deliverance. 

In  his  yearly  pocket-book,  at  the  anniversary  of  this  deliv- 
erance, he  invariably  afterwards  entered  the  motto — "  God  is 
love." 

He  arrived   in  London  on   Sabbath,  30th  September,  in  a 


DIAKY,    JANUARY    1,    1801.  101 

state  of  excessive  exhaustion  ;  but  notwithstanding  this,  and  the 
anxious  remonstrances  of  his  family,  he  proceeded  with  joy  and 
gratitude  to  preach  at  his  own  chapel  in  the  evening,  from 
Hebrews  xiii.  5,  last  clause,  "  He  hath  said,  I  will  never  leave 
thee,  nor  forsake  thee  ;" — a  promise  of  which  he  had  so  signally 
experienced  the  fulfilment,  by  God's  great  power  and  stretched- 
out  arm. 

From  the  period  of  the  establishment  of  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society,  in  1795,  a  very  considerable  portion  of  his  time 
was  given  to  the  various  active  duties  which  devolved  upon  him 
in  connection  with  that  great  object.  We  merely  notice  this 
at  present  as  a  point  to  be  hereafter  dilated  on,  and  to  account 
to  the  reader  for  the  apparent  meagreness  of  incident  at  a 
period  of  his  career,  which  was  in  fact  particularly  active,  and 
crowded  with  labors  of  pious  exertion  for  the  extension  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom. 

"  May  1,  1800. — I  love  the  Lord,  because  he  hath  heard  my 
voice  and  my  supplications  ;  because  he  hath  inclined  his  ear 
unto  me,  therefore  will  I  call  upon  him  as  long  as  I  live.  The 
sorrows  of  death  compassed  me,  and  the  pains  of  hell  gat  hold 
upon  me ;  I  found  trouble  and  sorrow.  Then  called  I  upon 
the  name  of  the  Lord  ;  O  Lord,  1  beseech  thee,  deliver  my  soul : 
thou  hast  delivered  my  soul  from  death,  mine  eyes  from  tears. 
What  shall  1  render  unto  the  Lord  for  all  his  benefits  towards 
me  ?  O  Lord,  truly  1  am  thy  servant,  and  the  son  of  thine 
handmaid ;  thou  hast  loosed  my  bonds.  O  merciful  Father, 
keep  alive  in  my  heart  a  becoming  sense  of  my  obligation  to 
thine  unutterable  goodness  and  love  !  May  I  be  enabled,  by  a 
humble,  cautious,  and  holy  conversation,  to  show  forth  a  due 
sense  of  thy  grace  to  my  soul.  May  the  blood  of  Jesus  cleanse 
me  from  all  sin,  and  the  spirit  of  Jesus  redeem  my  heart  from 
the  captivity  of  corruption.  Never  let  my  thoughts  turn  to 
my  numerous  and  dear  family,  without  suitable  emotions  of 
gratitude  pervading  my  soul.  To  God  be  all  the  praise.  Amen 
and  amen." 

"January  1,  1801. — I  am,  through  the  forbearance  and 
gracious   visitation  of  my  heavenly  Father,  entering  on   an- 


102  DIARY,   JANUARY    1,    1803. 

other  century.  While  I  look  back  on  the  past,  I  behold  the 
portion  of  it  which  I  enjoyed  illuminated  with  unnumbered  and 
unmerited  mercies  on  the  part  of  God ;  but  blotted  and  dark- 
ened alas  !  on  my  part,  with  much  guilt.  The  good  Lord  pardon 
my  henious  offence,  and  make  me  thankful  for  his  unwearied 
care  and  love.  In  his  strength  I  desire  to  enter  on  the  duties, 
to  meet  the  trials,  and  partake  of  the  mercies,  which  may 
await  me  in  this  new  division  of  my  time.  O  that  I  may 
serve  him  more  faithfully,  love  him  more  ardently,  than  ever  I 
have  done  !  The  days,  months,  and  years,  that  are  past,  have 
carried  up  to  God  awful  and  just  accusations  against  me. 
May  the  report  of  the  days  that  are  to  come  be  more  credit- 
able to  me.  With  new  years,  may  new  measures  of  strength 
be  imparted,  that  I  may  serve  God  with  all  my  heart,  doing 
justly,  loving  mercy,  and  walking  humbly  with  him.  Alas! 
what  avail  additional  days  and  years  }  Unless  we  thus 
fill  them  up  with  works  of  faith  and  labors  of  love,  they 
will  only  furnish  the  law  of  God  with  new  articles  of  accusa- 
tion against  us,  thereby  increasing  our  condemnation.  Happy 
the  man  who  grows  in  zeal  for  God  and  watchfulness  against 
sin,  as  he  grows  in  days  and  years.  To  him  the  hoary 
head  will  prove  a  crown  of  glory,  as  found  in  the  way  of 
righteousness  ;  and  the  evening  of  life  be  illumined  with  the 
hope  of  eternal  day." 

"January  1,  1803. — How  rich  and  lasting  the  loving-kind- 
ness of  the  Lord!  When  I  look  back  on  the  departed  year, 
what  guilt  darkens  it  to  my  view  !  Son  of  God,  thy  blood 
alone  cleanseth  from  all  sin  ;  and  surely  none  ever  stood  in 
such  need  of  the  sprinkling  of  this  blood  as  my  conscience 
doth  this  day.  0  may  the  humble  hope,  which  the  gracious 
promises  of  the  Lord  encourage,  of  pardon,  inspire  me  with 
deep  concern  to  watch  and  pray  against  all  manner  of  in- 
iquity! O  to  live  as  seeing  Him  that  is  invisible!  O  to 
walk  as  feeling  the  sweet  constraints  of  redeeming  love ' 
With  how  many  mercies  has  this  last  year  been  distinguish- 
ed !  God  hath  continued  to  me  and  my  family  the  enjoy- 
ment of  health,  bread  to  eat,  and  raiment  to  put  on.     He 


INCREASE    OF    HIS    FAMILY.  103 

bath  opened  to  my  eldest  son  a  door  of  profitable  employment 
in  a  serious  family,  and  introduced  him  into  a  connection  where 
his  morals  arc  not  likely  to  be  exposed,  as  they  might  be  in 
some  other  situations.  The  gracious  Lord  continue  his  tender 
mercies  this  year  also.  May  he  make  me  a  humble,  laborious, 
compassionate,  and  faithful  minister  of  the  word.  May  he 
preserve  in  peace,  and  increase  in  goodness,  the  people  over 
whom  his  providence  hath  placed  me.  May  he  be  a  father  to 
my  dear  children,  and  bring  them  forward  into  useful  life. 
May  he  bless  my  dear  wife  with  much  spiritual  comfort  under 
all  her  fatigue  and  solicitude,  and  preserve  her  in  all  times  of 
danger  ;  and  to  my  own  God  and  my  father's  God  be  everlast- 
ing praise." 

In  another  part  of  the  diary  we  find  the  following  entries: 
— "  The  gracious  Lord  hath  this  morning  given  to  us  our 
tenth  child.  Blessed  be  his  glorious  name,  who  hath  thus 
multiplied  our  offspring,  and  hath  hitherto  preserved  them 
in  life  and  health.  How  rich,  how  various,  how  unmerited 
his  tender  mercies  !  O  to  live  in  deep  humility  and  un- 
feigned gratitude  before  him  all  the  days  of  our  lives !" — 
"  This  evening  the  holy  ordinance  of  baptism  was  adminis- 
tered to  our  infant  daughter.  May  the  Lord  call  her  his 
daughter,  and  give  her  a  place  in  his  family  as  one  of  his 
children.  We  claim  the  promise  to  us  and  to  our  seed,  that 
Jehovah  be  a  God  to  us  and  to  them  ;  and  are  thankful  that 
we  Gentiles  are  engrafted  on  the  Jewish  stem,  and  partake 
of  all  the  sure  mercies  of  Abraham  and  David.  The  Lord 
give  us  grace  to  bring  up  our  dear  family  in  the  knowledge 
and  fear  of  the  true  God,  and  of  Jesus  Christ  whom  he  hath 
sent." 

From  the  time  of  his  settlement  in  London,  in  1782,  to  1806, 
he  had  occasionally  suffered  severely  from  a  gouty  affection  of 
his  stomach,  accompanied  with  a  weakness  of  frame,  sometimes 
so  decided  as  to  assume  the  features  of  dropsy.  During  the 
whole  of  this  period  he  had  found  it  necessary  to  take,  almost 
wery  year,  relaxation  from  his  public  labors,  by  making  a 
ummer  excursion   to  Scotland  or  the   sea-coast  of  England. 


104     ADDRESS    TO    THE    CONGREGATION    ON    HIS    ILLNESS. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1805,  so  gieat  was  the  debility 
of  his  constitution,  that  he  was  obliged,  most  reluctantly,  to 
discontinue  his  pulpit  labors,  as  well  as  all  his  other  public 
services ;  and  was  for  a  number  of  months  confined  chiefly  to 
his  bed. 

On  the  first  Sabbath  of  the  year  1 806,  the  officiating  minis- 
ter read,  at  his  request,  the  following  address  to  the  congrega- 
tion : — 

"  My  dear  friends  ;  your  affectionate  pastor,  by  the  holy 
arrangements  of  Providence  disabled  from  ministering  in  his 
place  this  day,  deems  it  his  duty  to  call  your  devout  attention 
to  a  few  thoughts  which  forcibly  impress  themselves  upon 
his  own  mind.  Years  revolve :  what  a  mass  of  sins,  the  days, 
and  weeks,  and  months  of  the  past  year  have  gathered  to- 
gether against  us !  Humbled  in  the  dust,  in  the  presence  of 
Infinite  Purity,  let  us,  with  deepest  sorrow,  implore  remis- 
sion through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb — blood  which  cleanseth 
from  all  sin.  Let  us  tremble  at  the  thought  of  bringing 
forward  the  guilt  of  last  year  to  the  account  of  this  new  di- 
vision of  time.  On  the  other  hand,  with  how  many  mercies 
as  to  our  persons,  our  families,  our  friends,  and  the  church, 
hath  the  closing  year  been  distinguished — mercies  to  our 
health,  our  character,  our  substance,  our  peace  of  mind ! 
Truly,  at  the  close  of  every  day,  it  would  have  become  us 
to  have  raised  the  stone  of  help,  lifting  up  our  hearts 
with  our  eyes  to  heaven,  saying,  Hitherto  hath  the  Lord 
helped  us. 

"  We  look  forward.  To  our  feeble  powers  of  vision,  limited 
is  the  range  at  the  utmost,  and  dark  at  the  clearest,  to  which 
our  penetration  reaches.  It  is  almost  indubitably  certain, 
that  in  regard  to  some  one  or  other  of  this  congregation, 
the  decree  of  Heaven  has  gone  forth — '  This  year  thou  shalt 
die.'  Let  every  man,  laying  his  hand  on  his  heart,  and  lift- 
ing his  eyes  to  heaven,  sa}T,  '  Lord,  is  it  I  ?  Am  I  in  a  pre- 
pared state  for  appearing  at  the  tribunal  of  the  Son  of  God  ? 
Have  I  scriptural  evidence  of  being  in  a  state  of  recon- 
ciliation with  God,  and  of  having  passed  from  death  to  life  ?' 


ADDRESS    TO    THE    CONGREGATION.  105 

"The  year  on  which  we  are  entered  is  a  talent  of  inesti- 
mable worth,  which  our  Divine  Master  is  intrusting  to  us, 
saying',  'Occupy  till  I  come.'  Let  us  address  ourselves, 
therefore,  to  a  diligent  and  faithful  discharge  of  the  sacred 
trust.  Strength  is  provided  in  the  covenant,  and  held  out 
in  the  promises.  Examples  of  fidelity  are  exhibited  to  our 
eyes  in  the  lives  of  God's  saints,  every  one  of  whom,  looking 
down  from  his  seat  in  glory,  seems  to  unite  with  his  brother 
in  saying  to  us,  'Be  followers  of  us,  who,  through  faith  and 
patience  are  now  inheriting  the  promises.'  O  to  feel  the 
power  of  such  examples,  which,  like  torches,  guide  and  en- 
kindle ! 

"There  is  one  additional  hint  to  which  your  pastor  craves 
your  serious  ear.  It  is  contained  in  the  apostle's  admonition, 
from  which  it  was  his  intention  to  address  you  himself  at  this 
hour:  'If  any  man  be  in  Christ  Jesus,  he  is  a  new  creature.' 
This  is  the  suitable  way  for  Christians  to  enter  on  the  exer- 
cises of  the  new  year. 

"  In  regard  to  the  monthly  exercise  for  prayer,  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  coining  Tuesday,  he  hopes  the  members  of  the 
church  will  endeavor  to  make  it  convenient  to  attend,  and  that 
the  gracious  presence  of  the  Son  of  God  will  warm  their  hearts 
with  intimations  of  his  love  and  grace. 

"  The  members  of  the  congregation  who  are  confined  by  the 
afflictive  visitations  of  God  on  themselves  or  their  children, 
will  send  notice  of  their  place  of  abode  to  any  of  the  elders  or 
deacons  who  will  favor  them  with  a  religious  visit,  for  the  con- 
solation of  their  minds,  and  the  increase  of  the  graces  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  their  hearts. 

"  Finally,  your  minister  earnestly  solicits  an  interest  in 
the  prayers  of  his  dear  people,  that  the  ends  of  this  chastise- 
ment may  be  gained,  his  soul  in  the  furnace  purified,  and  him- 
self restored  (as  he  is  encouraged  to  hope,  very  soon)  to  the 
exercise  of  his  ministry,  which,  except  as  to  the  very  imper- 
fect manner  of  its  management,  is  the  joy  and  delight  of  his 
heart." 

The  subjoined  extract  from  his  diary  will  afford  our  read- 


100  DIARY,    MARCH    1,    1806. 

ers  a  view  of  the  state  of  his  mind  under  this  painful  visita- 
tion : — 

"March  1,  1806. — Now  two  tedious  months  have  revolved 
in  which  I  have  been  confined,  the  prisoner  of  Divine  holiness 
and  justice.  During  all  this  space,  how  little  have  I  done  or 
said  for  God  and  the  glorious  gospel  of  his  Son.  The  light  of 
this  returning  year  has  never  beheld  me  employed  in  my  be- 
loved work  of  preaching  Christ  crucified  to  my  dear  congrega- 
tion. Alas  !  how  little  exercised  in  a  spiritual  and  profitable 
manner  has  my  mind  been  under  this  severe  visitation  of  my 
heavenly  Father  !  "What  feeble  advances  in  patience  and  sub- 
mission to  the  Divine  will  and  hope  in  God  has  my  mind  made 
at  a  season  so  favorable  to  the  progress  of  those  holy  disposi- 
tions ! 

"But  let  me  record  also,  with  gratitude,  the  loving-kind- 
ness of  the  Lord.  The  views  of  his  wisdom,  sanctity,  and 
love,  which  are  given  in  the  Scriptures,  have  been  comfort- 
ing to  my  heart.  My  mind  hath  been  graciously  preserved 
from  infidel  doubts,  and  hath  enjoyed  the  most  placid  con- 
viction of  the  truth  of  our  Saviour's  mission,  of  the  matchless 
excellence  of  his  character,  the  perfection  of  his  atoning  sac- 
rifice, and  of  the  free,  sincere,  and  most  affectionate  offers  of 
salvation  in  the  Gospel  to  sinners.  My  heart,  I  trust,  hath 
accepted  the  free  gift  of  God,  aud,  as  a  poor  guilty  sinner, 
reposed  its  entire  confidence  in  the  blood  and  obedience  of 
the  Son  of  God.  His  good  Spirit,  I  hope,  enabled  me  to  de- 
volve, at  the  darkest  hour  of  my  affliction,  my  dear  and  nu- 
merous family,  my  dear  people,  and  all  my  concerns,  on  the 
guardian  arm  and  faithfulness  of  my  covenant  God.-  For  these 
reasons,  I  would  rear  the  altar,  and  inscribe  upon  it,  '  Hitherto 
hath  God  helped  me.' 

"  Nor  let  me  ever  forget  the  affectionate  solicitude  and  lib- 
erality of  my  kind  people,  at  the  beginning  and  through  the 
whole  course  of  my  illness.  With  the  foresight  and  love  of 
a  brother,  they  anticipated  my  wants  and  needs,  and  made 
provision  for  their  supply.  The  kind  attention  of  individuals, 
according  to  their  ability  and  sense  of  duty,  shall  not  be  over- 


VISIT    TO    SCOTLAND    IN    180G.  107 

looked,  but  be  long*,  long  remembered  with  unfeigned  grati- 
tude. The  gracious  Lord  reward  them  sevenfold  into  their 
own  bosoms. 

"  How  shall  I  express  my  obligations  to  my  own  dear  fam- 
ily, and  that  most  affectionate  of  friends,  the  wife  of  my 
youth  ?  Never,  never  can  I  recompense  her  fatiguing,  cease- 
less, and  unwearied  care  of  me,  by  day  and  by  night,  which 
love  and  sense  of  duty  strong  as  hers  alone  could  incline  and 
enable  her  to  take  and  persevere  in.  The  concern  and  un- 
feigned anxiety  of  my  dear  children  about  their  suffering  pa- 
rent, afforded  also  much  sacred  consolation  to  my  soul.  O 
may  the  ends  of  this  visitation  be  gained  as  to  my  own  im- 
provement, and  the  benefit  of  my  congregation  and  family  ! 
May  renovated  health,  lengthened  days,  and  additional  oppor- 
tunities of  usefulness,  be  all,  all  employed  in  the  service  and  to 
the  honor  of  my  God  and  Father,  and  for  the  solid  benefit  of 
his  people." 

Though  still  in  a  state  of  very  great  debility,  he  embarked 
for  Scotland  on  the  8th  of  June,  in  company  with  his  wife, 
and  preached  for  the  first  time  this  year  at  sea  (as  was  his 
invariable  custom  when  on  ship-board  during  the  Sabbath), 
from  1  John  i.  1-3.  He  arrived  on  the  16th"  of  June  at 
Kinross,*  where  he  continued  a  few  weeks,  making  short 
excursions  to  various  parts  of  the  surrounding  country. 
Among  other  places,  he  visited  Perth  and  Dunkeld,  with 
the  scenery  of  which,  particularly  of  the  latter,  he  was  highly 

*  Dr.  Waugh's  sons  received  the  early  part  of  their  education 
chiefly  at  the  grammar-school  of  Kinross,  where  they  had  the  advan- 
tage of  being  placed  under  the  general  superintendence  of  his  nephew, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Hay,  and  were  boarded  in  the  house  of  one  of  the  elders 
of  his  congregation.  The  Editor  has  been  requested  by  them  briefly  to 
record  their  sentiments  of  obligation,  for  the  religious  care  of  their  boy- 
hood while  from  under  their  parents'  eyes,  not  only  to  their  respected 
relative;  Mr.  Hay,  but  al-^o  to  the  late  Robert  Grieve,  the  devout  man 
in  whose  house  they  resided,  and  to  whose  exemplary  Christian  walk 
and  conversation,  and  pious  solicitude  to  preserve  their  young  hearts 
"  unspotted  from  the  world,"  they  look  back  with  grateful  veneration. 
— Editor. 


108  VISIT   TO    SCOTLAND    IN    1806. 

gratified.  In  every  period  of  his  life,  his  heart  was  cheered 
and  elevated,  and  his  whole  soul  was  wont  to  thrill  with  inde- 
scribable emotion,  when  contemplating  the  grand  or  romantic 
scenes  of  nature. 

At  this  time  his  legs  were  swollen  to  an  alarming  degree, 
and  his  whole  frame  so  debilitated,  that  his  recovery  appeared 
extremely  doubtful.  His  friends  labored  to  conceal  their  ap- 
prehensions, but  his  own  mind  was  composed  and  cheerful. 
He  informed  the  compiler  of  these  papers,  that  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  complaint  he  had  been  taken  by  surprise ; 
but  that  he  had  sought  consolation  in  the  proper  quarter,  and 
had  found  it, — and  that  his  heart  was  now  in  a  state  of  humble 
and  placid  submission  to  the  disposal  of  Infinite  Wisdom  and 
goodness,  whether  his  days  should  be  shortened,  or  his  life  be 
prolonged,  for  further  labor  and  usefulness  in  the  church.  His 
conversation,  as  usual,  was  decidedly  pious,  richly  instructive, 
and  distinguished  occasionally  by  a  playful  and  polished  hilar- 
ity, so  that  he  was  a  great  favorite  wherever  he  visited,  partic- 
ularly with  the  young. 

In  August  he  went  to  his  brother's,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tweed,  near  Melrose,  and  also  in  the  vicinity  of  Earlstoun,  the 
scene  of  many  youthful  associations,  and  of  Newtown,  where 
he  had  spent  the  first  two  years  of  his  ministry.  He  re- 
mained in  this  part  of  the  country  till  the  beginning  of  Sep- 
tember, and  found  himself  so  much  recovered,  that  he  ven- 
tured to  preach  twice  ;  once  at  a  baptism  in  the  house  of  a 
relation,  and  the  other  time  at  Newtown,  when  his  own  feel- 
ings must  have  been  deeply  interested,  as  well  as  those  of 
many  of  his  hearers,  among  whom  were  almost  all  his  rela- 
tions. He  returned  to  Edinburgh  in  the  beginning  of  Sep- 
tember, and  attended  the  meeting  of  Synod.  In  seeing  many 
of  his  early  associates,  with  whom  he  had  enjoyed  no  inter- 
course for  a  long  series  of  years,  his  susceptible  mind  felt 
deeply  the  forcible  application  of  Solomon's  words :  "  As 
iron  sharpeneth  iron,  so  doth  the  countenance  of  a  man  his 
friend." 

Subsequent  to  the  meeting  of  Synod,  he  remained  for  a 


DIARY,    DECEMBER    31,    1806.  109 

short  time  with  a  much-esteemed  friend  at  Stirling,  whence, 
after  visiting  the  Trosachs,  and  other  Highland  scenery,  he  re- 
turned to  the  vicinity  of  Berwick,  and  continued  among  his 
relations  till  the  2d  November,  when  he  sailed  for  London. 
His  pulpit,  during  his  absence,  had  been  principally  supplied 
by  the  Rev.  James  Ellis  of  Saltcoats,  and  the  lie  v.  John  Brown 
of  Bigirar. 

On  Sabbath,  the  9th  November,  he  entered  his  pulpit  for 
the  first  time  during  the  year,  and  with  feelings  of  ardent 
gratitude  to  that  God  in  whose  hand  is  our  life  and  the  length 
of  our  days,  he  lectured  to  his  beloved  and  affectionate  people 
from  Luke  xv.  1-7.  Though  his  health  was  considerably  im- 
proved, his  constitution  was  still  so  enfeebled,  that  it  was  deemed 
improper  for  him  to  officiate  during  the  remainder  of  the  year 
above  once  every  Sabbath,  and  this  generally  in  the  morning 
service. 

His  diary  contains  the  following  reflections  at  the  conclusion 
of  this  year : — 

"December  21,  1806. — On  looking  back  on  the  events  of 
this  year,  which  is  now  terminating,  what  abundant  topics  of 
gratitude  to  my  heavenly  Father  present  themselves!  By 
land  and  on  the  mighty  deeps  hath  his  unseen  arm  protected 
me.  What  kindness,  through  the  medium  of  my  dear  rela- 
tions and  brethren  in  Scotland,  hath  he  manifested  to  me ! 
How  gracious  hath  he  been  to  my  dear  people,  in  sending  such 
able  and  suitable  supply  to  them  through  the  summer  and  au- 
tumn. He  hath  also,  in  a  great  measure,  confirmed  my  health, 
and  afforded  to  me  the  enlivening  prospect  of  serving  my  Di- 
vine Master  for  days  and  years  to  come.  0  that  God  would 
vouchsafe  me  large  measures  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  to  enable  me 
to  preach  the  glorious  Gospel  with  all  fidelity,  compassion,  pa- 
tience, zeal,  and  fortitude  1  May  he  give  me  souls  for  my  hire ! 
May  I  be  permitted  to  see  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord  prosper- 
ing in  every  heart  and  every  family  !  Then,  whether  I  shall 
see  many  days,  or  be  soon  called  to  give  an  account  of  my 
stewardship,  it  shall  be  well  with  both  them  and  myself  in  the 
end. 


110  THE    PSALMODY. 

u  My  inability  will  constrain  me  to  discontinue  the  long 
service.  May  I  feel  this  as  a  powerful  motive  to  conduct  the 
other  part  of  the  worship  with  more  earnestness  of  spirit,  and 
to  avail  myself  of  the  evening  at  home  for  the  performance  of 
the  important  duties  which  I  owe  to  my  dear  family.  And 
now,  O  my  Father  and  my  God  !  accept  of  the  homage  of  my 
unfeigned  gratitude  for  thy  past  mercies,  pardon  all  the  guilt 
of  this  expiring  year,  prepare  me  for  doing  and  suffering  thy 
will  in  time  coming,  and  be  ever  gracious  to  me  and  mine  for 
the  divine  Saviour's  sake  !" 

When  his  health  was  re-established,  he  was  so  much  in- 
volved in  public  business,  that  he  appears  to  have  had  no 
farther  leisure  for  writing  his  diary.  Besides  his  ministerial 
labors,  in  which  he  was  always  most  assiduous,  his  avocations, 
in  connection  with  the  Missionary  and  Bible  Societies,  and  al- 
most every  religious  and  charitable  institution  of  the  metropo- 
lis, were  so  numerous  as  to  occupy  the  whole  of  his  time.  Few 
men  will  be  found  who  have  more  ardently  cherished  the  tem- 
per and  spirit  of  Him  of  whom  it  is  recorded,  that  "  he  went 
about  doing  good." 

At  this  period,  the  subject  of  the  Psalmody  particularly 
occupied  the  attention  of  the  Secession ;  and  an  overture 
for  enlarging  it  came  under  consideration  of  the  Synod. 
From  a  deep  solicitude  for  the  advancement  of  every  object 
connected  with  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  church,  he  pre- 
sented, with  the  concurrence  of  this  session,  to  that  reverend 
court,  a  memorial  and  petition,  earnestly  recommending  this 
measure,  which,  after  mature  deliberation,  was  adopted  in 
a  spirit  of  delightful  harmony,  and  has  since  proved  highly 
beneficial  for  aiding  the  devotion  of  pious  minds  in  a  most 
important  and  solemn  part  of  religious  worship.  We  cannot 
fail  to  remark  here,  that  though  far  removed  from  the  im- 
mediate superintendence  of  his  own  church  courts,  and  sur- 
rounded by  many  examples  both  in  and  out  of  the  establish- 
ment, leading  him  to  adopt,  on  his  own  judgment,  a  selection 
of  hymns  not  recognized  by  constituted  authorities,  Dr. 
Waugh  on  this,  as  on  every  other  occasion,  evidenced  to  the 


SCRirTUItAL   SONGS.  Ill 

world  that  while  his  general  spirit  was  truly  Catholic,  his  sub- 
mission to  the  rules  and  orders  of  his  own  church  was  most 
ready  and  respectful. 

"To  the  moderator  and  remanent  members  of  the  Associate 
Synod,  to  meet  at  Edinburgh  on  Tuesday,  the  30th  day  of  April, 
1811.  The  memorial  and  petition  of  the  Associate  Session  of 
Wells  Street,  London,  showeth, 

"  That  your  memorialists  continue  to  cherish  a  deep  and  grateful 
sense  of  the  privileges  which  they  enjoy  under  the  spiritual  super- 
intendence and  fostering  care  of  this  reverend  court,  and  feel 
thereby  the  more  encouraged  to  submit  to  their  paternal  consider- 
ation the  subject  of  this  memorial.  The  public  worship  of  the 
sanctuary,  in  the  observance  of  which  they  were  brought  up, 
they  devoutly  respect  for  its  venerable  simplicity  and  its  scrip- 
tural authority  ;  the  system  of  Psalmody  they  peculiarly  revere  as 
the  inspiration  and  institution  of  God.  Its  contents  have  been 
their  songs  in  the  house  of  their  pilgrimage:  it  is  the  fixed  pur- 
pose of  their  minds  to  continue  the  use  of  them.  Your  memorial- 
ists, however,  humbly  conceive,  that  as  it  hath  pleased  God  to 
consummate  the  revelation  of  grace  and  mercy  under  the  new 
dispensation  by  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  suitable  to  their  profession,  as 
followers  of  God,  to  assimilate  their  spiritual  songs,  as  much  as 
may  be,  to  these  new  discoveries  of  his  grace  and  love.  This  they 
humbly  apprehend  may  be  safely  done,  by  adding  to  the  collection 
of  Psalms  now  in  public  use  other  portions  of  Scripture,  contain- 
ing discoveries  of  redeeming  love,  descriptions  of  Christian  duty 
and  Christian  hope,  in  sentiment  perfectly  consonant  to  the  Scrip- 
ture, and,  as  much  as  may  be,  in  the  dignified  and  impressive 
language  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Thus  there  will  be  more  visible 
harmony  between  the  other  parts  of  the  public  worship  and  the 
Psalmody.  What  was  the  object  of  prayer  will,  when  graciously 
bestowed,  become,  nearly  in  the  same  language,  the  theme  of 
song.  The  Psalm  will  breathe  the  New  Testament  spirit  of  the 
sermon.  The  church  will  sing  the  song  of  the  Lamb  as  well  as 
of  Moses. 

"  Your  memorialists,  however,  do  not  hold  themselves  warranted 
to  make  any  alteration  whatever  in  the  doctrine,  the  discipline, 
or  the  worship  of  the  church,  without  the  knowledge  and  ap- 
probation, explicit  or  understood,  of  the  reverend  Synod ;  or  to 
introduce   even    any    scriptural    songs,   without    first    submitting 


112  THE    PSALMODY. 

them  to  the  eye  of  that  venerable  court.  It  is  their  privilege,  and 
they  duly  prize  it,  to  enjoy  a  form  of  church  order  which  is 
equally  distant  from  spiritual  domination  and  from  popular  con- 
fusion, and  which  is  calculated  to  promote  the  unity  of  the  church, 
and  secure  at  the  same  time  the  sacred  rights  of  individual 
Christians. 

';  Your  memorialists  beg  leave  also  to  state,  that  it  is  not  their 
purpose  to  introduce  the  addition  referred  to,  unless  there  be  a  rea- 
sonable prospect  of  its  perpetuating  the  peace  and  promoting  the 
spiritual  edification  of  the  church,  whose  peace  and  edification  will 
ever  lie  near  to  their  hearts. 

"  Your  memorialists  are  encouraged  in  this  measure  by  the 
example  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,  in  her  times  of  distinguished 
reformation,  and  particularly  by  the  acts  of  Assembly,  August  28, 
1647,  and  August  10,  1G48  ;  and  by  the  countenance  given  to  the 
same  object  by  the  Associate  Synod,  1747,  and  also  at  a  later 
period. 

"  May  it,  therefore,  please  this  reverend  court,  to  grant  permis- 
sion to  prepare  for  their  inspection  a  collection  of  scriptural  songs, 
or  paraphrases,  to  be  occasionally  used  in  the  public  worship,  in 
addition  to  the  book  of  Psalms,  if  found  for  edification  ;  and  your 
petitioners  shall  ever  pray  that  a  large  measure  of  the  Spirit  of 
knowledge,  wisdom,  and  love,  may  descend  from  on  high  on  this 
reverend  court,  may  rest  on  every  heart,  and  on  all  the  congrega- 
tions committed  to  their  spiritual  care  and  government. — Done  at 
Wells  Street,  this  11th  day  of  April,  1811,  and  attested  by  Alex- 
ander Waugh,  moderator." 

After  the  important  and  beneficial  overture  regarding  the 
Psalmody  had  been  adopted  by  the  Synod,  at  their  meeting 
in  April,  1812,  as  he  was  tenderly  alive  to  the  peace  and 
edification  of  the  church,  he  embraced  the  earliest  oppor- 
tunity of  making  the  following  communication  from  the 
pulpit : — 

"  In  consequence  of  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly,  there  was 
published,  in  1745,  a  collection  of  translations  and  paraphrases  in 
verse  of  several  passages  of  God's  holy  word,  which  was  used  in 
several  churches.  In  1781,  the  collection  was  revised,  and  by  an 
act  of  Assembly  allowed  to  be  used  in  all  the  congregations  of  the 
land. 


SCRIPTURAL   SONGS.  113 

"  The  Secession  church  viewed  the  matter  in  the  same  light,  and 
by  an  act  of  Synod,  in  1747,  recommended  to  one  of  their  brethren, 
the  Rev.  Ralph  Erekine,  the  work  of  turning  all  the  rest  of  the 
Scripture  songs  into  metre,  as  the  Psalms  of  David  are,  and  for  the 
same  public  use. 

"  This  matter  has  not  been  lost  sight  of  by  our  fathers.  At 
their  meeting  in  September  last,  they  appointed  a  committee  to 
prepare  a  suitable  addition  of  scriptural  songs,  to  be  used  in  the 
public  worship ;  and  at  their  last  meeting,  in  the  present  month, 
agreed  unanimously,  and  without  one  dissenting  voice,  either  of 
minister  or  elder,  to  permit  the  translations  and  paraphrases  pub- 
lished by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,  to  be 
used  in  all  the  churches  under  their  spiritual  care. 

"  Let  it  be  carefully  recollected,  that  the  object  of  the  reverend 
Synod  is  not  to  dispense  with  any  part  of  Divine  revelation,  par- 
ticularly the  Book  of  Psalms,  which  has  been  so  long  the  hallowed 
instrument  of  God  the  Spirit,  in  creating,  strengthening,  and  regu- 
lating every  devotional  disposition  in  the  heart ;  but  merely  to 
enlarge  the  means  of  fanning  the  flame  of  our  devotion,  in  a  suit- 
ableness to  the  enlargement  of  the  discoveries  of  God's  love  to  us 
under  the  new  dispensation  of  knowledge  and  grace. 

"  Having  received  their  permission,  the  minister  proposes  occa- 
sionally, and  as  the  theme  of  his  instruction  may  require,  to  avail 
himself  of  the  use  of  these  translations  and  paraphrases,  which  ho 
humbly  hopes  and  earnestly  prays,  the  Lord  the  Spirit  may  make 
very  useful  in  raising  your  pious  desires  and  longings  of  soul  to 
God." 

During  the  period  from  1806  to  1815,  Mr.  YVaugh  was 
employed  on  numerous  and  important  missionary  tours,  which 
will  be  more  particularly  noticed  in  the  subsequent  chapter,, 
During  this  period  also,  the  chapel  in  Wells  Street,  which  had 
been  previously  very  incommodious,  was  taken  down  and  re- 
built. In  reference  to  this  event,  we  find  the  following  notice, 
in  a  letter  to  one  of  his  daughters  : — 

"I  am  employing    myself  in   preparing  a  sermon  for  the 

opening  of  the  kirk.     The  seats,  by  the  bye,  Mr.  tells 

me,  have  been  let  as  rapidly  as  it  could  reasonably  be  ex- 
pected. It  grieves  me  that  the  advance  on  them  should  be 
found  to  bear  on   any  worthy  man  whose  circumstances  are 


114  HE  RECEIVES  THE  DEGREE  OF  D.D. 

limited,  and  whose  family  is  numerous.  I  hope  prudent 
measures  will  be  taken  to  alleviate  the  evil,  and  remove  the 
complaints,  which,  though  only  in  two  or  three  instances, 
ought  to  be  removed,  and  doubtless  will.  It  is  to  the  poor  that 
the  Gospel  is  preached,  and  in  all  churches  provision  should 
be  made  that  the  poor  have  opportunity  of  hearing  its  joyful 
sound." 

The  great  exertions  of  the  congregation  (consisting  gener- 
ally of  people  in  moderate  circumstances)  on  this  and  other 
occasions,  and  the  liberal  conduct  of  a  few  members  whom 
God  had  blessed  with  temporal  prosperity,  and  with  what 
is  far  more  to  be  prized — a  willing  heart  to  use  it  for  worthy 
purposes, — deserve  to  be  commemorated,  both  for  their  own 
honor  and  for  that  of  their  pastor,  who  so  successfully  ex- 
erted the  great  influence  he  possessed  among  them  to  excite 
a  generous  emulation  in  giving  of  their  substance  liberally  to 
the  service  of  the  sanctuary,  and  especially  to  the  help  of 
their  poorer  brethren.  Between  him  and  them  mutual  esteem 
had  long  ripened  into  a  friendship  full  of  affectionate  respect, 
which  thirty  years  of  Christian  fellowship  had  tried  and  con- 
secrated. 

In  1815,  he  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from 
the  Marischal  College  of  Aberdeen,  where,  as  we  have  seen, 
he  had  in  his  youth  spent  a  session  very  profitably,  under  the 
tuition  of  Drs.  Beattie  and  Campbell,  and  had  taken  the  degree 
of  A.M.  He  felt  pleased  and  gratified  with  this  honorable 
notice  from  a  body  of  learned  men,  to  almost  all  of  whom  he 
was  now  an  entire  stranger  :  but  this  literary  distinction  yielded 
still  higher  satisfaction  to  his  numerous  friends,  by  whom  he 
was  not  only  greatly  esteemed,  but  ardently  loved. 

Agreeably  to  the  usage  of  the  Presbyterian  churches,  Dr. 
Waugh  was  accustomed  to  deliver  special  and  solemn  ad- 
dresses to  his  congregation  on  particular  occasions.  We  shall 
here  insert  one  or  two  specimens  of  the  mode  in  which  he 
executed  this  duty.  The  first  is  an  address  on  the  intimation 
of  the  communion,  and  of  collecting  for  the  poor,  February  8, 
1818: 


CONGREGATIONAL    ADDRESSES.  115 

"  By  Divine  permission,  the  holy  communion  will  be  dis- 
pensed in  this  church  on  Sabbath,  March  1.  Young  persons 
and  others  who  are  desirous  of  becoming-  members  of  the 
church,  are  requested  to  visit  the  minister  on  the  evening  of 
Friday  or  Saturday  this  week,  in  the  way  of  preparation  for 
their  admission  to  our  fellowship.  To  those  who  believe  in 
the  Divine  mission  of'  the  Saviour,  who  repose  confidence  in 
his  mediation  and  atonement,  who  venerate  his  holy  laws 
and  love  his  perfect  example,  we  especially  address  these 
solemn  and  scriptural  hints.  Your  pious  parents,  at  your 
baptism,  entered  in  their  claim  to  God,  as  their  own  God, 
and  the  God  of  their  seed.  It  becomes  you  to  satisfy  your 
own  minds  that  you  approve  of  what  they  did,  by  personally 
renewing  that  claim  to  God  as  your  own  God;  publicly 
giving  yourselves  to  the  Lord,  and  devoting  yourselves  to 
him  as  the  guide  of  your  youth,  and  the  Saviour  of  your 
endangered  souls  ;  avouching  the  Lord  to  be  your  God,  putting 
yourselves  under  his  mild  mediatorial  care,  and  associating 
yourselves  with  his  people  in  the  sacred  and  most  beneficial 
bonds  of  church  fellowship.  Your  profession  of  Christianity 
is  blamably  imperfect  till  this  be  done.  Let  not  the  sincere 
but  fearful  disci] >le  withhold  his  name  under  a  sense  of  per- 
sonal un worthiness :  we  lean  not  on  our  own  worthiness, 
but  solely  on  the  worth  and  boundless  merits  of  Him  who 
is  the  Lord  our  righteousness.  That  very  humility  and 
trembling  of  heart  are  evidences  of  regeneration.  You  will 
find  in  the  bosom  of  the  Divine  Shepherd  a  place  for  the 
lambs  and  weaklings  of  his  flock.  The  ordinance  of  the  Sup- 
per is  a  strengthening  and  confirming  ordinance  :  their  doubts 
are  scattered,  the  feeble  spark  of  love  raised  into  a  flame, 
trembling  attachments  confirmed,  the  kind  affections  strength- 
ened, irregular  and  unholy  propensities  weakened,  subdued, 
crucified.  The  Son  of  God  makes  a  claim  on  your  heart  and 
your  public  profession.  Ask  yourselves  how  much  you  are  to 
blame,  and  resist  his  requirement  if  you  can.  The  Spirit  and 
the  bride  say,  Come ;  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  word,  and  the 
church  by  our  mouth,  say,  Come.    Let  the  Saviour's  authority 


116  CONGREGATIONAL    ADDRESSES. 

overawe  you,  let  his  love  draw  you,  let  a  sense  of  obligation 
touch  your  hearts,  and  let  the  prospect  of  much  spiritual  good, 
— let  all  combine  to  influence  you,  and  dispose  you  to  say, 
'Truly  I  am  thy  servant,  thy  servant,  thou  hast  loosed  my 
bonds ;  and  I  will  surname  myself  by  the  name  of  the  God 
of  Jacob.' 

"  I  am  requested  by  the  deacons  of  the  church  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  congregation  to  another  and  an  important  sub- 
ject. It  was  an  apostolic  command,  that  the  churches  should 
devote,  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  a  portion  of  their  sub- 
stance to  their  poor  brethren,  according  as  God  had  prospered 
them.  This  primitive  usage  prevails  in  all  the  churches  of 
Christ  in  the  northern  part  of  the  land,  and  the  most  happy 
results  have  followed  the  usage.  By  these  contributions 
made  weekly,  and  distributed  monthly  by  the  deacons,  assist- 
ance is  afforded  to  the  aged  man  whose  arm  cannot  earn  the 
accustomed  support  to  his  family ;  to  the  widow  in  her  sad 
state  of  solitude  and  privation ;  to  the  destitute  orphan  who, 
in  the  tender  solicitude  of  his  father's  friends,  finds  to  him- 
self a  father  and  a  guide.  It  is  not  to  the  credit  of  a  gospel 
church,  if  it  can  possibly  be  prevented,  to  suffer  her  aged 
members  to  endure  the  ills  to  which,  from  the  mixed  com- 
pany of  the  profane  with  which  our  workhouses  are  crowded, 
their  serious  minds  must  necessarily  be  exposed  in  such  asy- 
lums, at  a  period  of  life,  when  quietness  and  the  aids  of  pious 
friendship  are  especially  desirable.  It  has  been  the  laudable 
object  of  this  church,  as  far  as  her  means  would  enable  her, 
to  prevent  the  sad  necessity  of  her  members  being  driven  to 
this  last  resort  of  suffering  humanity.  Boxes  are  fixed  at 
both  the  doors  for  the  reception  of  the  weekly  contributions 
of  the  pious  and  the  humane,  that  tbey  may  preface  their  acts 
of  devotion  to  their  God  with  an  act  of  considerate  charity 
to  their  poor  brethren.  The  deed  of  kindness  may  be  done 
in  the  manner  in  which  our  divine  Lord  hath  expressly  com- 
manded such  deeds  to  be  done  : — '  Take  heed  that  ye  do  not 
your  alms  before  men :  but  when  thou  doest  alms,  let  not 
thy  left  hand  know  what  thy  right  hand  doeth  ;  that  thine 


CONGREGATIONAL    ADDRESSES.  117 

alms  may  be  in  secret :  and  thy  Father,  who  seeth  in  se- 
cret, himself  shall  reward  thee  openly.'  In  this  lovely 
usage  of  pure  and  undefiled  religion,  persons  in  every  condi- 
tion of  life  should  claim  it  as  their  privilege  to  be  permitted 
to  unite.  The  great  rule  is,  'If  there  be  first  a  willing  mind, 
it  is  accepted  according  to  what  a  man  hath,  and  not  accord- 
ing to  what  a  man  hath  not.'  The  gentle  but  piercing  eyes 
of  the  Saviour  deigned  not  to  notice  the  oblation  of  the  vain 
and  haughty  Pharisee,  but  fixed  themselves  on  the  humble 
offering  of  the  poor  widow,  whose  extreme  poverty  abounded 
to  the  credit  of  her  liberality,  and  hath  given  to  that  liberal- 
ity an  honorable  place  in  the  unperishing  records  of  redeeming 
love. 

"  As  the  twig  is  bent,  the  tree  will  be  inclined.  Hence 
the  importance  of  habituating  our  children  to  early  acts  of 
charity.  Young  people  should  be  told  in  the  morning,  that 
in  the  house  of  God  there  are  children  who  are  poor,  and 
have  no  father  to  provide  for  them,  while  they  themselves 
fare  sumptuously  every  day,  are  creditably  clothed,  and  live 
in  the  warm  and  fostering  bosom  of  parental  love.  The 
tears  of  sympathy  fall  from  their  eyes,  and  angels  gather  the 
descending  pearls.  Early  habits  of  contributing,  if  but  a  mite, 
will  grow  strong  by  indulgence,  and  as  life  advances  become  a 
fixed  principle  of  vigorous  action,  securing  succor  and  relief  to 
the  generation  following.  The  Son  of  God  hath  made  him- 
self a  party  in  those  deeds  of  goodness  ;  he  hath  identified 
himself  with  the  pious  poor  man  :  and  will  tell  us,  at  a  period 
when  his  voice  shall  not,  as  now,  be  drowned  by  the  rude 
clamor  of  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eye,  and  the 
pride  of  life,  that  inasmuch  as  we  did  it  unto  the  least  of  these 
«>ur  brethren,  we  did  it  unto  himself. 

"It  only  remains,  that  I  convey  to  you  the  grateful  sense 
which  the  aged  man,  bowed  down  under  the  pressure  of  years ; 
the  widowed  mother,  and  her  helpless  family ;  the  industri- 
ous mechanic,  anxious  to  labor  for  his  numerous  children, 
but,  through  the  palsied  state  of  trade  and  manufactures,  des- 
titute of  calls   to  labor   with    his    hands  ; — the   grateful  sense 


118  CONGREGATIONAL    ADDRESSES. 

they  cherish  of  your  past  beneficence,  and  the  glowing  concern 
of  their  nourished  hearts  for  your  eternal  interests. 

"  These  thoughts  are  respectfully  submitted  to  you,  under 
the  full  conviction  that  if  there  has  been  any  diminution  of 
late  in  the  amount  of  the  accustomed  weekly  oblations,  it  must 
have  been  occasioned  in  some  by  their  not  having  been  ap- 
prized of  the  nature  of  the  service  ;  and  if  in  others  by  inat- 
tention, that  it  is  inattention  easily  to  be  recalled  from  its 
wandering,  and  the  heart  recovered  to  a  tone  of  feeling  in  uni- 
son with  the  Diviue  command,  and  the  best  affections  of  the 
renewed  mind." 

Among  his  papers  we  have  found  other  occasional  addresses 
to  the  congregation,  which  show  the  strict  and  conscientious 
fidelity  with  which  he  discharged  his  ministry,  watching  for 
the  souls  intrusted  to  him  as  one  that  must  give  an  account. 
Not  only  did  he  preach  the  word  instant  in  season  and  out  of 
season ;  he  also  reproved,  rebuked,  exhorted,  with  all  long- 
suffering  and  doctrine.  The  following  warning,  read  to  the 
church,  in  the  name  of  the  Session,  on  a  day  appropriated  to 
humiliation  and  fasting,  portrays  the  criminal  nature  and  bane- 
ful and  ruinous  effects  of  certain  delinquencies,  from  which 
few  worshipping  assemblies,  it  is  to  be  feared,  can  plead  ex- 
emption. 

"  The  elders  have  seen,  and  are  deeply  affected  at,  the 
partial  attendance  which  is  given  on  public  ordinances.  The 
primitive  Christians  continued  steadfastly  in  the  apostles'  doc- 
trine and  fellowship,  and  in  breaking  of  bread  and  in  prayer. 
Good  men  are  followers  of  God,  who  loveth  the  gates  of  Zion 
more  than  the  dwellings  of  Jacob  :  they  thirst  for  the  living 
God,  and  say,  When  shall  I  come  and  appear  before  God  ? 
I  will  go  unto  the  altar  of  God,  unto  God  my  exceeding  joy. 
These  things  are  seen  with  the  more  concern,  as  they  are  sad 
symptoms  of  declining  religion  in  the  soul,  and  of  growing 
insensibility  to  God's  authority  over  the  conscience.  The 
Session  come  forward  therefore,  in  their  regular  way,  to  warn, 
to  admonish,  to  reprove,  and  to  beseech  in  the  bowels  of 
Christ    Jesus.      Forsake    not,   we    sav,   forsake    not,    beloved 


CONGREGATIONAL    ADDRESSES.  I  |  '.) 

brethren,  the  dissembling'  of  yourselves  together*  Come  reg- 
ularly, come  timely,  come  devoutly,  to  the  house  of  your 
Father  and  your  God;  he  waits  there  eve iy  Sabbath  to  be 
gracious  to  your  souls.  Grieve  not  his  good  Spirit  by  in- 
dulging in  sloth;  by  profaning  his  day  in  exercises  which 
are  either  sinful  or  doubtful ;  or  by  such  irregularity  of  wor- 
ship as  will  discourage  your  brethren,  hinder  your  own  solid 
improvement,  oppose  the  spirit  of  your  vows  at  your  admis- 
sion to  fellowship,  and  foster  a  disposition  which  in  many  has 
carried  them  away  altogether,  not  only  from  their  former 
connections,  but  from  the  faith  of  Christ.  Force  not  the 
elders  of  the  church,  whom  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  means  of 
your  own  deliberate  choice,  hath  set  over  you  for  your  good, 
— force  them  not  to  their  strange  and  most  painful  work  (a 
work  to  which  the  irregularity  of  some  hath  too  much  called 
them),  the  work  of  putting  away  from  the  fellowship  of  the 
visible  church.  Oh !  distressing  alternative  !  either  to  cut 
off,  or  have  their  own  robes  tinged  with  the  blood  of  souls ! 
Awful  declaration !  '  lie  that,  being  often  reproved,  hard- 
eneth  his  neck,  shall  suddenly  be  destroyed,  and  that  with- 
out remedy.'  They  particularly  warn  the  young  and  inexpe- 
rienced, who,  coming  into  this  large  city,  may  rind  them- 
selves unrestrained  by  a  father's  eye  and  example.  The  con- 
sequences of  the  evil  complained  of,  in  some  have  been  loss 
of  innocence,  of  character,  of  sober  habits,  followed  with  the 
loss  of  substance,  liberty,  and  with  the  hazard  of  ignominious 
death.  The  beginnings  of  all  have  been,  the  neglect  of  se- 
cret devotion,  and  of  regular  attendance  on  public  ordi- 
nances. 

"Closely  allied  to  partial  and  irregular  attendance  on  pub- 
lic ordinances,  is  the  profanation  of  the  day  of  God.  The 
Sabbath  is  profaned  in  various  ways :  sometimes  by  idleness 
or  sloth  ;  or  by  conversation  which  is  worldly,  trifling,  and 
unholy, —  such  conversation,  like  the  birds  of  heaven,  carry- 
ing away  the  precious  seed  of  the  word,  effaces  every  good 
impression  made  on  the  heart,  and,  like  a  blight,  withers 
every  opening  blossom  of  religious  purpose  :  it  is  profaned  by 


120  CONGREGATIONAL    ADDRESSES. 

the  careless  performance  of  the  sacred  "duties  of  the  day, 
through  the  influence  of  a  cold,  heartless  frame  of  mind  ;  for 
many  seem  never  to  recover  their  spirits  till  the  Sabbath  is 
over ;  and  the  holy  rest  which  the  Sabbath  enjoins  is  felt  by 
them  to  be  a  heavier  burden  than  the  toil  of  the  other  days : 
it  is  likewise  profaned  by  neglecting  to  prepare  for  the  pub- 
lic services  of  religion  in  the  closet  and  in  the  family,  and  by 
bringing  the  world  with  us  into  God's  house.  Worldly  thoughts 
are  weeds  which  strangle  the  growth  of  pious  dispositions  in 
the  soul,  and  thieves  which  haunt  us,  to  steal  our  treasure  or  to 
wound  our  minds.  Happy,  if  we  could  expel  them  from  our 
Father's  house  and  the  habitation  of  his  Spirit,  and  thus  puri- 
fy the  temple  of  the  Lord  ! 

"  In  regard  to  those  whose  peculiar  situation  in  families 
which  fear  not  God,  and  make  no  provision  for  the  spiritual 
privileges  of  those  who  are  under  them ;  and  in  regard  to 
others  whose  callings  prevent  them  from  regular  and  full  at- 
tendance on  the  public  worship  of  God, — the  minister  and 
elders  very  earnestly  and  affectionately  beseech  them  to  cher- 
ish in  their  minds  a  right  understanding  of  the  law  of  God, 
much  tenderness  of  conscience,  that  they  study  the  true  and 
scriptural  idea  of  works  of  necessity,  and  be  much  on  their 
guard  against  being  carried  beyond  the  boundary  of  that  ne- 
cessity through  the  love  of  the  world ;  that  they  thankfully 
avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  which  Providence  may 
afford  to  them  of  escaping  from  such  unfavorable  situations  in 
life  ;  and  that  they  cherish  confidence  in  the  gracious  care  of 
their  Father  in  heaven,  to  provide  for  them  under  their  suffer- 
in  its  through  tenderness  of  conscience,  and  a  sacred  regard  to 
what  they  conceive  to  be  the  path  of  duty.  While  the  Session 
deeply  sympathize  with  their  brethren,  to  whose  distress  of 
mind  in  this  matter  they  are  no  strangers,  they  most  solemnly 
warn  all  against  everything  which  may  be  denominated  ser- 
vile work  on  the  Lord's  day, — the  labor  of  the  body  where 
worldly  gain  is  the  object  of  the  mind,  and  where  the  plea  of 
either  necessity  or  mercy  is  inadmissible. 

"Finally,  they  invite  you  tu  listen  to  the  promisee  of  your 


CONGREGATIONAL    ADDRESSES.  121 

faithful  and  covenant-keeping  God,  as  powerful  encourage- 
ments to  your  hearts.  '  If  thou  turn  away  thy  foot  from  the 
Sabbath,  from  doing  thy  pleasure  on  my  holy  day ;  and  call 
the  Sabbath  a  delight,  the  holy  of  the  Lord  honorable ;  and 
shalt  honor  him,  not  doing  thine  own  ways,  nor  finding  thine 
own  pleasure,  nor  speaking  thine  own  words :  then  shalt 
thou  delight  thyself  in  the  Lord ;  and  I  will  cause  thee  to 
ride  upon  the  high  places  of  the  earth,  and  feed  thee  with  the 
heritage  of  Jacob  thy  father ;  for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath 
spoken  it.'" 

It  was  more  congenial  to  the  benevolent  and  kindly  affec- 
tions of  Dr.  Waugh's  nature,  to  employ  the  language  of  com- 
mendation than  to  administer  reproof.  The  following  is  an 
address  to  the  congregation  on  occasion  of  a  collection  made 
for  liquidating  the  debt  on  the  chapel, — an  encumbrance  that 
had  long  been  heavily  felt,  and  for  the  removal  of  which, 
now  that  the  chapel  had  been  rebuilt,  his  affectionate  people, 
by  contributing  money,  or  taking  shares  in  the  property,  had 
exerted  themselves  with  an  honorable  and  praiseworthy  lib- 
erality. 

"  I  am  requested  to  convey  to  you,  brethren,  in  the  most 
respectful  manner,  the  warmest  acknowledgments  of  the 
managers  of  your  temporal  concerns,  for  the  singular  liberality 
you  manifested  last  Lord's  day,  in  a  collection  which  has 
amounted  to  the  sum  of  £103  :  14  :  6  ;  an  effort  of  Christian 
Liynorosity  which,  while  it  fixes  your  character  in  the  churches 
<»f  the  saints,  emits  an  odor  of  a  sweet  smell,  a  sacrifice  accept- 
able, well-pleasing  to  God,  who  shall  supply  all  your  need 
according  to  his  riches  in  glory  by  Christ  Jesus. 

"The  minister  cannot  suffer  this  opportunity  to  pass  un- 
improved. Ho  would,  therefore,  very  earnestly  draw  the  at- 
tention of  his  beloved  people  to  the  great  ends  for  which 
churches  are  built,  and  property  expended  in  their  erection. 
It  is  that,  by  the  Gospel  there  preached,  the  eyes  of  the 
blind  may  be  opened,  the  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins  may  be 
quickened,  the  slaves  of  Satan  may  become  the  freemen  of 
Christ,    polluted    hearts    may    be    purified,    soui    tempers    be 


i> 


122  CONGREGATIONAL    ADDRESSES. 

sweetened,  the  stubborn  and  refractory  become  docile  and 
tractable,  the  rude  become  gentle  and  mild,  and,  in  a  word, 
the  image  of  Christ  be  impressed  on  minds  hitherto  degraded 
by  the  image  of  Satan.  Let  these  sacred  objects  be  ever  in 
your  eye,  and  let  nothing  less  than  the  enjoyment  of  them  be 
the  compensation  you  seek  for  all  the  expenditure  you  have 
made  first  and  last,  in  the  cause  of  the  Gospel.  Say  each  of 
you  to  himself — '  Pity  it  will  be  to  assist  in  building  churches 
in  which  everybody's  soul  is  richly  benefited  but  mine ;  to 
feed,  with  fresh  oil,  the  lamps  that  shed  celestial  light  on  every 
understanding  but  mine  ? 

"Lean  not  intemperately  on  such  deeds  of  beneficence, 
however  sacred  and  dear  to  Heaven  be  the  cause.  Call  it  to 
your  devout  remembrance,  that  many  assisted  in  building  the 
ark  who  themselves  perished  in  the  waters. 

"But  let  me  improve  your  liberality  in  another  way;  let  me 
urge  it  in  the  service  of  your  stability  in  the  faith  of  Christ. 
You  have  assisted  in  rearing  this  house  for  the  preaching  and 
preservation  of  the  sacred  truths  of  the  Gospel :  continue 
in  the  faith,  profession,  and  obedience  of  those  evangelical 
truths.  Should  you  ever  abandon  them,  this  house  will 
witness  against  your  defection ;  as  Solomon's  splendid  Temple 
must  have  witnessed  against  his  apostasy,  in  suffering  high 
places  to  be  built  for  Ashtaroth,  and  Milcom,  and  Chemosh, 
and  other  abominations  of  the  heathen.  But  on  the  other 
hand,  by  persevering  in  the  profession  and  practice  of  the  truth, 
you  bid  fair  yourselves  to  reap  ineffable  benefit  to  your  own 
souls,  and  to  leave  a  respectable  place  of  worship  for  your 
children." 

From  the  commencement  of  1807  his  health  seems  to  have 
been  completely  restored,  with  a  few  slight  interruptions ; 
and  he  generally  preached  in  his  own  pulpit  three  times 
every  Sabbath.  But  owing  to  a  fall  he  met  with  in  May, 
1823,  by  the  scaffolding  giving  way  at  the  laying  of  the 
foundation-stone  of  the  Orphan  Asylum  at  Clapton,  his 
ankle  was  severely  bruised,  and  his  whole  frame  greatly 
shaken.     "As  a  proof  of  my  dear  father's  anxiety  to  fulfil 


INCREASING    INFIRMITIES.  123 

his  public  engagements,"  says  a  member  of  his  family,  "  al- 
though the  day  on  which  this  dangerous  accident  occurred 
was  the  Monday  after  the  sacrament  in  the  city,  where  he 
had  pledged  himself  to  preach  in  the  evening;  and  though 
his  friends,  seeing  that  he  suffered  much  from  his  fall,  ex- 
pressed great  anxiety  that  he  should  return  home  and  see  his 
medical  adviser, — yet  no  entreaty  could  prevail  on  him  to 
give  up  his  duty,  and  he  preached  with  uncommon  spirit. 
When  he  reached  his  home,  he  was  quite  unnerved,  and 
burst  into  tears.  He  passed  a  very  bad  night,  and  did  not 
leave  his  bed  the  next  morning ;  but,  to  the  great  surprise  of 
his  family,  he  rose  in  the  afternoon,  saying  that  he  must 
meet  the  children  in  the  vestry,  and  attend  the  prayer  meet- 
ing. All  persuasion  was  in  vain;  he  considered  it  his  Mas- 
ter's work;  he  would  not  give  it  up;  and  performed  it  to 
the  astonishment  of  every  person.  But  when  it  was  over, 
all  could  see  the  great  effort  he  had  made.  His  sufferings 
were  so  severe,  that  his  friends  were  obliged  to  help  him 
home :  when  he  left  the  coach,  he  could  not  stand ;  and  he 
did  not  leave  his  room  for  three  months  afterwards." 

He  was  entirely  disabled  for  all  public  labor  till  the  5th 
of  October,  when  he  again  appeared  in  his  pulpit,  and  preach- 
ed in  the  forenoon ;  and  this  part  of  the  service,  with  a  few 
intervals,  was  all  that  he  was  able  to  perform  till  the  followr- 
ing  spring.  From  the  lameness  and  general  debility  occa- 
sioned by  this  accident,  he  never  recovered  ;  and  though  he 
continued  frequently  to  officiate  three  times  on  the  Sabbath, 
it  was  evident  to  all  his  family,  that  while  his  intellectual 
vigor  was  unimpaired,  he  had  lost  much  of  his  physical 
strength,  and  was  laboring  under  a  broken  constitution. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  summer  he  went  to  Brighton,  and 
returned  in  the  beginning  of  October.  During  the  winter 
and  spring  of  1825,  he  wTas  more  than  usually  active,  per- 
forming his  wonted  labors  in  his  own  congregation  and  else- 
where, with  scared)-  a  single  interruption.* 

*  In  May  ami  June,  the  kind  services  and  almost  constant  presence 


124  YOUTHFUL    REMINISCENCES. 

His  weakness,  however,  returning,  he  went,  on  the  30th 
July,  by  Hull,  with  one  of  his  daughters,  to  Harrowgate, 
whither  Mr.  Neill  had  previously  gone  to  prepare  for  his 
comfortable  reception.  At  this  time  the  state  of  his  legs 
was  alarming;  but  notwithstanding  his  illness,  he  could  not 
be  restrained  from  preaching  in  the  steamboat  on  his  passage 
to  Hull.  At  Harrowgate  he  suffered  greatly,  and  every 
kind  of  public  labor  was  necessarily  prohibited. 

The  following  letters  written  in  the  seventy-first  and 
seventy-third  years  of  his  age,  with  an  enfeebled  constitu- 
tion, sinking  under  a  complication  of  infirmities,  show  how 
deeply  the  scenes  of  his  early  years  had  entwined  themselves 
around  his  heart,  and  how  his  pious  mind  was  accustomed 
to  improve  them,  as  a  rich  source  of  enjoyment  under  the 
ills  of  life,  and  a  happy  preparative  for  the  rest  of  a  glorious 
and  a  blessed  immortality. 

"  Ev'n  from  the  tomb  the  voice  of  Nature  cries, 
Ev'n  in  our  ashes  live  their  wonted  fires." 


"TO    THE    REV.    ROBERT    HALL,    KELSO. 

"  The  Pavilion,  Harrowgate,  Yorkshire, 
August  5,  1825. 

"  My  Dear  Friend  and  Brother, — I  am  become  utterly  un- 
trustworthy:  my  faculties  are  rapidly  failing,  particularly  my 
memory,  the  powers  of  which  are  become  feeble  in  the  extreme. 
Your  letter  of  the  29th  June  alarmed  me.  I  hastened  to  the 
bundle  of  unanswered  letters,  and  found  yours  of  the  4th  Feb- 
ruary carefully  laid  by,  and  noted  to  be  answered  in  a  few  days. 
The  whole  went  from  my  mind  as  if  the  subject  had  never  been 
brought  under  my  notice.  I  regret  it  exceedingly ;  and  all  the 
amends  I  can  possibly  make,  I  will  cheerfully  make. 

"  I  thank  you  for  your  very  just  view  of  the  character  of  our 
excellent  brother  and  endeared  friend,  the  good  Mr.  Young  of 
Jedburgh.  May  your  latter  end  and  mine  be  like  his !  In  Mr. 
Fair's  death  I  lost  the  oldest  friend  I  had  remaining  on  the  banks 

of  his  highly  esteemed  friend  Dr.  Belfrage  greatly  contributed  to  cheer 
his  Bpirlts,  and  to  make  M\%  work  comparatively  easy. — Editor. 


YOUTHFUL    REMINISCENCES.  125 

of  your  matchless  river.     I  think  it  is  about  sixty  years  since  I  first 
knew  him. 

"  My  last  visit  to  Earlstoun  was  darkened  with  many  painful 
recollections.  The  Black  Hill  stood  as  before ;  but  the  dear  lads 
that  assisted  me  in  robbing  the  hawk's  nest  in  the  precipitous 
crag  on  its  north  side,  were  all  silent  in  the  narrow  house :  the 
pools  of  water  in  the  Leader,  where  we  fished  and  bathed,  were 
the  same ;  Rhymer's  Tower,  though  much  dilapidated,  remained, 
— the  spacious  room,  in  which  '  the  hare  kittled  on  the  hearth- 
stane,'  and  where  I  have  spent  many  a  romantic  hour,  was  fallen 
down  in  ruins ;  Glcdswood-bank,  the  Gateheugh,  Holywell,  and 
auld  Melrose,  the  hallowed  abode  of  St.  Cuthbert — all  remained; 
hut  the  companions  of  my  youthful  gambols  and  excursions — 
alas !  I  stood  over  their  graves  in  Earlstoun  church-yard  ! — The 
train  of  thinking  which  such  recollections  awaken,  I  know  is 
deemed  childish ;  but  I  feel  it  soften  my  heart,  and  teach  me  to 
look  beyond  these  transient  and  endeared  scenes  of  early  days. 
Such  recollections  bring  no  remorse  with  them,  which,  alas !  we 
cannot  say  of  riper  years. 

"As  to  myself,  I  have  labored  under  much  internal  weakness 
for  these  three  years,  and  a  wound  I  received  in  the  interior  of  my 
leg,  above  the  ankle,  has  of  late  broken  out ;  for  recovery  from  both 
of  which,  Dr.  Darling,  my  worthy  Gala-water  physician,  has  sent 
me  to  drink  the  waters  here. 

"  Every  purchased  blessing  he  in  your  cup !  We  all  cherish, 
my  dear  friend,  and  ever  will  cherish,  a  lively  sense  of  your  kind 
and  hospitable  attentions  to  the  various  branches  of  my  dear  family ; 
and,  in  their  name, — I  remain,  with  affectionate  esteem,  your 
obliged  and  faithful  brother, 

"  A.  Waugh." 


"TO    MR.   JOHN    HOME. 

"  London,  February  1,  1827. 
"  My  dear,  old,  and  good  Friend, — I  ought  to  have  congratu- 
lated you  long  ago,  on  the  union  of  the  young  folks  in  circum- 
stances so  auspicious  and  encouraging.  The  God  of  their  fathers, 
I  trust,  will  watch  over  them  in  the  untrodden  paths,  as  he  has 
watched  over  and  cared  for  us,  and  bring  us  all  in  due  time  to 
the  heavenly  rest.  I  often  look  back  to,  and  dwell  on  the  scenes 
of  our  youth,  and  our  meetings  for  prayer  at  my  uncle  Sandy's, 


126  YOUTHFUL   REMINISCENCES. 

and  our  journeys  through  Middlethen  Moss  to  worship  with  the 
apostle  John  at  Stitchell  meeting-house.  I  had  a  long  crack  lately 
with  John  M'Dougal,  now  in  his  eighty-second  year,  on  those  times. 
It  did  my  heart  good.  I  think  I  would  lay  out  five  pounds  on  a 
dinner  at  Burrick  Well,  if  I  could  get  you,  Willie  Tunter,  Geordie 
Wood,  and  other  lads  of  three-score  years  and  ten,  to  sit  round 

our  grassy  table,  and  have  Kate for  our  cook.     It  was  not 

till  I  saw  the  head  of  my  beloved  Alexander  laid  in  the  grave 
at  Bunhill  Fields,  that  I  could  break  the  cord  that  bound  me  to 
Gordon  kird-yard,  as  the  place  of  my  final  rest  in  this  changeable 
world.  But  if  we  sleep  in  Jesus,  it  is  of  small  importance  on 
what  side  of  the  Tweed  our  bed  be  made.  The  great  matter  is, 
that  we  be  found  in  Him,  and  that  we  now  make  daily  advances 
in  preparation  for  the  heavenly  state.  Let  us  study  to  grow  in 
attachment  to  the  unseen  exercises  of  religion,  watching  over 
the  heart,  living  near  to  God  in  our  confidence,  love,  and  hope — 
trusting  in  the  atonement  and  righteousness  of  God  our  Saviour, 
and  wrapping  that  robe  of  righteousness  (as  John  Brown  says) 
around  us  as  our  winding-sheet  when  we  die,  that  awaking  with 
it  we  may  stand  accepted  at  the  great  tribunal.  Then  all  shall 
be  well ! 

"  But  I  must  call  a  halt.  Let  me  beg  an  interest  in  your  prayers, 
and  when  you  get  near  the  Throne,  remember  an  old  man  who 
will  not  forget  you.  My  best  wishes  to  all  the  dear  children  whom 
God  has  given  you. — I  ever  am,  my  dear  friend,  very  affectionately 
yours." 


In  a  review  of  the  first  edition  of  this  work,  which  ap- 
peared in  that  highly  respectable  periodical  the  "Christian 
Observer,"  we  find  remarks  so  striking  and  correct,  in  con- 
nection with  his  habitual  love  of  scenery,  as  exhibited  in  the 
above  and  other  letters,  that  we  cannot  refrain  from  embody- 
ing them  here ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  we  willingly  thank  the 
reviewer  (as  he  calls  upon  us  to  do)  for  the  lines  with  which 
the  extract  closes,  and  for  having  so  ably  directed  our  atten- 
tion to  a  feature  in  Dr.  Waugh's  mind  which  had  escaped  our 
notice. 

"  The  love  of  natural  scenrey  was  in  him,  as  in  Leigh 
Richmond,  an  enjoyment   amounting   almost   to   a   passion; 


LOVE    OF    SCENERY.  127 

yet  this  excellent  man,  in  the  discharge  of  his  solemn  duties, 
contentedly,  nay,  cheerfully,  passed  the  greater  part  of  his  life 
pent  up  in  a  murky  city;  thus  showing  how  completely  a 
sense  of  duty  and  love  of  God,  and  of  man  for  God's  sake,  can 
endear  to  the  Christian  what  otherwise  would  be  repulsive  to 
his  feelings.  Well  he  knew,  by  a  sacred  instinct,  how  to  recon- 
cile the  apparently  adverse  feelings  so  beautifully  described  by 
that  truly  Christian  poet  Keeble.  In  the  sublime  scenes  of 
nature,  amidst  the  silent  loneliness  of  rocks  and  mountains,  he 
would  have  said  by  anticipation,  though  he  lived  not  to  read 
the  lines, — 

'  No  sounds  of  worldly  toil  ascending  there, 

Mar  the  full  burst  of  prayer  : 
Lone  Nature  feels  that  she  may  freely  breathe; 

And  round  us,  and  beneath, 
Are  heard  her  sacred  tones ;  the  fitful  sweep 

Of  winds  across  the  steep, 
Through  withered  bents — romantic  note  and  clear 

Meet  for  a  hermit's  ear.' 

"Yet  equally  could  he  feel  in  the  busiest  scenes  of  metro- 
politan intercourse  and  active  duty,  that 

1  Love's  a  flower  that  will  not  die 
For  lack  of  leafy  screen  ; 
Ami  Christian  hope  can  cheer  the  eye 

That  ne'er  saw  vernal  green. 
Then  be  ye  sure  His  love  can  bless 
Even  in  this  crowded  loneliness; 
Where  ever-moving  myriads  seem  to  say, 
Go — thou  art  naught  to  us,  nor  we  to  thee — away. 

1  There  are  in  this  loud  stunning  tide 

Of  human  care  and  crime, 
With  whom  the  melodies  abide 

Of  the  everlasting  chime; 
Who  carry  music  in  their  heart 
Through  dusky  lane  and  wrangling  mart, 
Plying  their  daily  task  with  busier  feet, 
Because  their  secret  souls  a  holy  strain  repeat.' " 


128  LETTERS    TO    HIS    CONGREGATION. 

F»om  Harrowgate  lie  wrote  repeatedly  to  tlie  beloved  people 
of  his  charge,  among  whom  it  was  the  object  of  his  ardent 
solicitude  that  he  might  be  strengthened  to  continue  the  labors 
of  his  ministry, — to  him  the  most  delightful  of  all  employ- 
ments,— till  such  time  as  it  should  please  his  gracious  Lord 
and  Master  to  call  him  to  his  recompense  of  reward. 

"  Harrowgate,  August  10, 1825. 

"  My  Beloved  Friends, — Through  the  care  and  kindness  of 
Divine  Providence,  I  reached  this  place  in  safety,  and  began  to 
drink  the  waters.  I  would  fain  cherish  hope  of  benefit  from  them ; 
but  the  result  is  with  God.  To  him  I  lift  mine  eyes ;  and  if  the 
continuance  of  my  ministrations  interests  your  hearts,  as  I  am  sure 
it  does,  let  me  beseech  you  to  lift  your  eyes  to  the  same  quarter  for 
relief.  I  feel  the  value  of  time  to  rise  in  my  estimation  as  its  space 
lessens  and  is  daily  diminished.  Whilst  it  is  day,  therefore,  let  us 
work  the  work  of  God.  Fading  faculties,  a  broken  constitution, 
and  the  anticipations  of  the  dark  evening  of  life,  we  should  im- 
prove, as  powerful  inducements  to  make  sure  our  calling  and  elec- 
tion, and  to  make  unceasing  advances  in  personal  piety  and  holi- 
ness. Our  intercourse,  however  sacred  and  dear  in  this  life,  must 
at  length  be  interrupted  and  suspended.  While  it  remains,  let  it 
be  marked,  as  hitherto,  with  the  exercise  of  every  kind  affection, 
and  especially  with  those  feelings  that  lead  to  mutual  and  recip- 
rocal prayer,  the  preservation  of  love  and  peace,  and  co-operation 
in  promoting  the  holy  and  important  objects  for  which  churches 
are  formed,  and  the  institutions  of  religion  devoutly  observed. 
These  exertions  will  soften  our  path,  and  sweeten  our  cup  with 
spiritual  enjoyment  here,  and  enliven  our  hopes  of  the  blessedness 
which  our  divine  Redeemer  with  his  blood  purchased  on  the  cross, 
and  is  exalted,  from  his  throne  to  bestow  on  all  who  love  and  obey 
him. 

"  Bear  my  young  brother  on  your  heart  before  the  throne  of 
God.  As  he  will  look  beyond  his  preparations,  I  trust  you  will 
look  beyond  the  pulpit.  The  weapons  of  our  warfare  are  mighty, 
but  they  are  mighty  only  through  God.  It  is  under  our  feet 
that  Satan  shall  be  brought ;  but  it  is  the  God  of  peace  that  shall 
bring  him  low,  and  enable  us  piously  to  exult  over  his  broken 
sceptre. 

"And    now,  my  beloved    friends,   I   affectionately  and    most 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    CONGREGATION.  129 

earnestly  commend  you  and  your  dear  families  to  God,  to  the  love 
of  his  heart,  to  the  intercession  of  his  Son,  and  to  the  consolations 
of  his  good  Spirit,  and  remain  the  sincere  friend  of  your  souls;  and, 
by  the  grace  and  help  of  God,  I  hope  to  live  and  to  dio — Your  lov- 
ing and  faithful  pastor, 

"  A.  Waugh." 


"  Harrowgaie,  August  25, 1825. 

"  My  Beloved  Friends, — It  will  gratify  the  kind  feelings  of 
your  hearts  to  be  informed,  that,  through  the  blessing  of  God  on 
the  means  that  have  been  used,  your  minister's  general  health  has 
been  greatly  improved,  and  the  end  of  his  journey  gained  in  as  high 
a  degree  as  could  reasonably  have  been  looked  for.  He  craves 
earnestly  an  interest  in  your  supplications  to  the  Throne  of  Grace, 
that  the  residue  of  his  years  may  bo  marked  with  higher  measures 
of  laborious  diligence  in  his  sacred  work,  of  unbending  fidelity  to 
the  cause  of  his  dear  people,  and  of  abundant  success  in  advancing 
their  conformity  to  the  image  of  the  divine  Redeemer.  If  these 
objects  be  gained,  recovered  health  and  lengthened  life  will  become 
blessings  of  boundless  value  ;  duly  prized  by  your  minister,  because 
they  involve  your  spiritual  welfare,  the  credit  of  your  Christian 
profession,  and  the  honor  of  Him  who  gave  himself  for  us,  that 
he  might  purchase  to  himself  a  peculiar  people,  zealous  of  good 
works. 

"  Your  minister,  as  might  be  expected,  longs  to  return  to  the 
bosom  of  his  beloved  charge ;  and  hopes,  by  divine  permission,  to 
resume  the  service  in  which  his  heart  delights  on  Sabbath  the  18th 
of  September.  May  he  come  to  you  in  the  fulness  of  the  blessing 
of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and  that  glorious  Gospel  be  preached  with 
the  Holy  Ghost  sent  down  from  heaven. 

"  Separated  from  you  as  to  place,  he  has  not  been  far  from  you 
in  heart.  His  humble  and  fervent  supplications  for  the  health 
of  your  souls  have  ascended  up,  morning  and  evening,  with  his 
supplications  for  his  own  family,  and  for  his  own  personal  salva- 
tion. He  comforts  himself  with  the  assurance  of  the  increase  of 
the  same  feelings  on  your  part.  With  every  sentiment  of  gratitude 
for  your  increasing  attachment  to  his  personal  and  family  comfort, 
and  especially  to  his  official  ministrations,  he  remains,  beloved 
friends, — Your  most  affectionate  pastor, 

"  A.  Waugh." 
6* 


130  REV.    DR.    EOGUE. 

On  his  return  to  London  he  found  himself  so  much  strength- 
ened as  to  be  able  to  undertake  his  three  services  on  the  Sab- 
bath for  the  remainder  of  the  year ;  and  also  to  form  one  of  a 
deputation,  along  with  Dr.  Winter  and  Mr.  Arundel,  to  Gos- 
port,  on  occasion  of  the  death  of  his  old  friend  Dr.  Bogue, 
whom  he  had  recently  visited  at  Brighton.  In  his  memoran- 
dum book  he  refers  to  the  high  satisfaction  he  felt  at  the  marks 
of  respect  shown  to  Dr.  Bogue's  memory  at  Gosport.  For  this 
great  and  good  man,  with  whom  he  had  long  been  in  terms 
of  confidential  intercourse,  he  preached  to  his  own  people  at 
Wells  Street  a  funeral  sermon,  on  the  13th  of  November,  from 
2  Timothy,  iv.  6 — 8  :  "For  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and 
the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand.  I  have  fought  a  good 
fight ;  I  have  finished  my  course ;  I  have  kept  the  faith  : 
henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness, 
which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at  that 
day ;  and  not  to  me  only,  but  unto  all  them  also  that  love 
his  appearing."  From  the  short  printed  report  of  this  sermon 
we  select  the  following  particulars  : — 

"Dr.  Bogue  removed  to  Gosport  in  1777,  where  he  con- 
tinued for  forty-eight  years  to  preach  the  unsearchable  riches 
of  Christ.  Having  first  roused  the  attention  of  the  public 
mind  to  those  efforts  which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Lon- 
don Missionary  Society,  he  was  at  length  appointed  mission- 
ary tutor,  which  office  he  discharged  with  great  ability,  and 
with  the  most  parental  care.  He  left  in  the  bosoms  of  many 
ministers  in  this  kingdom,  and  of  some  in  America  and  in 
various  parts  of  the  world,  a  lively  recollection  of  his  fatherly 
conduct.  He  kept  up  the  effect  of  his  valuable  instructions 
by  a  large  and  free  correspondence  with  missionaries  and 
others  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe ;  and  could  this  be 
collected  together,  it  would  form  a  series  of  pastoral  letters 
which  has  perhaps  never  been  surpassed.  After  living  a  life 
of  uncommon  activity  and  pre-eminent  usefulness,  he  found 
his  only  dependence  to  be  on  the  pardoning  mercy  of  God, 
his  only  blessedness  to  be  that  described  in  the  thirty-second 
psalm.     To  the  last  he  was  great  and  good.     The  signal  was 


REV.    DR.    BOGUK.  131 

at  length  given  from  on  high  :  the  voice  said,  'Come  up  hith- 
er ;'  and  lie  entered  into  the  presence  of  the  God  he  had  served, 
the  Saviour  whom  he  loved,  and  to  the  fellowship  of  many 
whom  he  had  known  and  esteemed.  He  has  left  behind  him 
a  bright  example  of  zeal,  of  industry,  of  perseverance,  of  benev- 
olence. While  we  lament  his  departure,  let  us  trust  in  God, 
and  pray  earnestly  to  him  that  he  would  bless  that  society 
which  has  lost  him." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Bennet  preached  also  a  funeral  sermon  at 
the  Poultry  Chapel,  November  16th,  before  the  directors  and 
friends  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  when  Dr.  Waugh 
prayed ;  on  which  the  reverend  reporter  of  the  sermon  re- 
marks:— "If  there  was  anything  which  could  add  to  the 
solemnity  or  interest  of  this  very  solemn  and  interesting  ser- 
vice, anything  which  could  tend  more  than  another  to  fix 
the  attention  of  the  wandering,  anything  which  might  serve 
to  impress  all  present  with  the  idea  that  they  were  in  the 
house  of  God,  and  attending  to  a  religious  service,  and  en- 
gaging in  a  mean  of  grace  for  which  they  have  to  render  an 
account, — it  was  the  intercessory  prayer  offered  before  the 
sermon  by  the  venerable  Dr.  Waugh.  Wre  thought  of  Jacob 
at  Peniel,  of  Moses  on  the  Mount,  of  David  and  his  life  of 
communion  with  God;  and  we  said,  in  the  words  of  our  favor- 
ite poet — 

'  When  one  that  holds  communion  with  the  skies 
Has  filled  his  urn  where  those  pure  waters  rise, 
And  once  more  mingles  with  us  meaner  things, 
Tis  e'en  as  if  an  angel  .shook  his  wings  ! 
Immortal  fragrance  fills  the  circuit  wide, 
That  tells  us  whence  his  treasures  are  supplied.' " 

Prom  this  time  to  the  summer  of  1826,  with  the  exception 
of  a  month's  confinement  in  January,  he  was  able  to  perform 
all  his  public  duties,  not  even  excepting  the  lecture  in  Camo- 
mile Street,  which  takes  place  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing. In  August  he  left  town,  with  his  family,  for  Tunbridge 
Wells,  where  he  preached  once  every  Sunday.     On  his  re- 


132  RESTORED    HEALTH. 

turn  he  found  himself,  through  the  kindness  of  his  gracious 
and  faithful  Master,  able  to  resume  his  usual  labors.  From 
January,  1827,  till  August,  when  he  went  to  Brighton,  he 
preached  three  times  every  Sabbath,  without  feeling  that  ex- 
treme fatigue  which  might  have  been  expected  from  his  shat- 
tered constitution,  at  such  an  advanced  period  of  life.  The 
truth  is,  that  the  ardent  delight  he  ever  felt  in  his  ministerial 
duties  kept  up  his  spirits  beyond  his  natural  strength ;  so  that, 
like  the  faithful  laborer,  anxious  to  finish  his  task,  he  exerted 
himself  with  renovated  vigor  as  the  night  was  approaching, 
when  no  man  can  work. 

"  Behold  him !  in  the  evening-tide  o  lifef, — 
A  life  well  spent, — whose  early  care  it  was 
His  riper  years  should  not  upbraid  his  green  : 
By  unperceived  degrees  he  wears  away  ; 
Yet,  like  the  sun,  seems  larger  at  his  setting." 

It  will  appear,  from  the  preceding  pages,  that  he  cherished 
a  deep-felt  gratitude  to  his  congregation  for  their  honorable 
and  considerate  kindness  in  augmenting  his  stipend  from  time 
to  time,  to  meet  the  expenses  of  his  family,  as  well  as  to  min- 
ister to  his  own  personal  comfort  under  increasing  infirmi- 
ties ;  exclusive  of  a  considerable  sum  paid  yearly  to  obtain  a 
respectable  annuity  to  his  widow, — an  instance  of  affectionate 
attention  particularly  soothing  to  his  mind  in  the  decline  of 
life*     This  feeling  of  gratitude,  by  exciting  in  his   mind  a 

*  The  mode  in  which  this  annuity  was  secured  is  worthy  of  particu- 
lar notice.  The  facts  were  these :— Dr.  Waugh  had,  out  of  his  slender 
income,  prudently  insured  a  certain  sum  on  his  own  life ;  and  also  an 
annuity  to  his  widow,  payable  on  his  decease.  The  managers  of  the 
congregation  having  learnt  that  he  had  done  this,  reimbursed  to  him 
all  the  premiums  he  had  paid,  and  thereafter  defrayed  the  annual  pre- 
miums out  of  the  congregational  funds.  These  payments  were  cheer- 
fully continued  for  thirty  years. 

In  this  transaction  the  managers  displayed  at  once  liberality,  delicacy, 
and  prudence;  and  their  considerate  conduct,  in  thus  securing  the 
wife  of  their  pastor  from  any  danger  of  destitution,  in  the  event  of  her 


LIBERALITY    AND    KINDNESS    OF    THE    CONGREGATION.       133 

painful  unwillingness  to  impose  on  a  liberal  and  affectionate 
people  the  heavy  additional  expenses  of  an  assistant,  led  him 
to  make  exertions  greatly  beyond  his  strength, — exertions 
which  could  not  but  be  followed  by  injurious  consequences. 
His  family,  as  well  as  his  intimate  friends  in  the  congregation, 
were  anxious  spectators  of  this,  and  often  urged  on  his  atten- 
tion, though  without  effect,  the  necessity  of  relieving  himself 
from  those  services  to  which  his  broken  constitution  was  no 
longer  equal.  The  very  arguments  drawn  from  his  age  and 
infirmities  were  converted  by  himself  into  a  strong  reason  for 
increasing  activity  in  his  Master's  work,  so  long  as  he  should 
retain  any  degree  of  health  and  vigor  for  such  labors.  This 
friendly  contention  was  at  last  terminated  by  the  failure  of  his 
voice,  to  such  an  extent  that  he  could  no  longer,  without  ex- 
traordinary efforts,  be  distinctly  heard  when  discharging  his  pub- 
lic duties.  It  became,  therefore,  indispensably  necessary  to  the 
interests  of  the  congregation  that  some  one  should  take  part 
with  him  in  his  ministry.  The  following  letter,  from  his  elders 
and  deacons,  breathes  a  spirit  of  Christian  wisdom,  sympathy, 
and  liberality,  honorable  to  themselves  and  to  the  congregation 
which  they  represented  : — 

TO   THE    REV.   DR.    WAUGH. 

"  Wells  Street  Chapel  Vestry, 
-May  1G,  1827. 
"  Dear  Sir, — As  members  of  the  session  of  Wells  Street  chapel, 
we  consider  it  our  imperative  duty  to  lay  before  you  what  wo 
judge  to  be  of  the  highest  importance  to  the  prosperity  of  out- 
beloved  charge,  whose  spiritual  interests,  we  are  well  convinced, 
cannot  be  dearer  to  us  than  they  are  to  yourself.  Whilst,  there- 
fore, it  is  our  desire  to  address  you  with  every  respect,  we  do  so 
with  all  confidence,  knowing  that  our  duty  and  interests  are  not 
divided. 

surviving  him,  and  at  the  same  time  relieving  both  his  mind  and  his  in- 
come from  the  pressure  of  such  anxious  concerns,  cannot,  be  too  strongly 
recommended  as  an  example  worthy  to  be  followed  by  other  congrega- 
tions. 


134  CORRESPONDENCE    REGARDING    AN    ASSISTANT. 

"  When  we  consider  the  kindness  of  the  great  head  of  the 
Church  in  sparing  you,  and  making  you  a  blessing  to  us  for  so 
many  years,  and  in  giving  us  such  a  long  continuance  of  peace 
and  prosperity,  we  have,  indeed,  great  cause  of  gratitude  and 
praise.  He  has  not  dealt  so  with  every  church.  Others  have  had 
to  deplore  the  loss  of  faithful  and  beloved  pastors,  removed  from 
them  in  early  life,  and  in  the  midst  of  much  usefulness.  You  have 
been  granted  not  only  length  of  days,  but  have  had  the  unspeakable 
satisfaction  of  seeing  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord  still  prospering  in 
your  hands. 

"  Whilst  admiration  is  expressed  for  your  continued  labors  of  love 
at  so  advanced  a  period,  blame  is  imputed  to  us,  that  a  life  so  long 
devoted  to  the  service  of  Christ  should  still  be  burdened  with  undi- 
minished exertion,  and  that  no  provision  has  been  made  by  us,  to  se- 
cure to  you  that  ease  and  comfort  so  desirable  and  indispensable  in 
the  evening  of  life. 

*;  It  is  a  duty  we  owe  to  you,  therefore,  as  well  as  to  the  congre- 
gation over  which  we  are  the  appointed  overseers,  to  present  (for 
your  consideration  and  approbation)  a  plan  which  we  unanimously 
think  the  wisest  and  best  to  be  adopted,  in  reference  both  to  our 
present  situation  and  our  future  prospects.  But  before  doing  this,  we 
think  it  best  to  state  to  you  the  circumstance  that  has  at  this  mo- 
ment forced  it  on  our  consideration. 

"  Complaints,  you  are  aware,  have  been  reiterated — that  how- 
ever desirous  the  people  are  of  benefiting  by  the  word  preached, 
this  benefit  is  not  gained,  owing  to  the  impossibility  of  hearing 
the  truths  you  are  so  desirous  of  conveying.  Although  this 
ground  of  complaint  has  not  been  of  long  date,  we  regret  to  state 
that  it  is  an  evil  increasing  in  importance,  and  threatening  painful 
consequences. 

"  Duly  impressed  with  the  urgency  of  these  considerations, 
we  now  bring  forward  the  plan  we  have  above  alluded  to,  viz., 
that  for  your  assistance,  and  for  the  present  edification  and  last- 
ing benefit  of  that  part  of  Christ's  church  intrusted  to  our  care, 
it  is  desirable  that  a  constant  supply  should  be  granted  us  of 
young  preachers  from  the  North,  in  connection  with  the  Asso- 
ciate Synod,  possessed  of  piety,  and  of  those  talents  which  are 
indispensably  necessary  in  a  metropolis  whose  churches  are  so 
highly  favored  with  men  of  eminent  gifts ;  and  that  each  sup- 
ply should  be  for  the  period  of  three  months.  Advantages  would 
arise  from  adopting  this  plan  that  might  eventually  produce  the 


CORRESPONDENCE    REGARDING    AN    ASSISTANT.  135 

most  happy  consequences  to  the  congregation.  Should  the  preach- 
er's talents  be  so  acceptable  as  to  make  it  desirable  to  lengthen  out 
his  services,  he  could  be  continued  for  a  longer  time  ;  and  further, 
by  our  having  the  advantage  of  being  acquainted  with  those  young 
men  who  are  coming  forward  into  usefulness,  we  might  at  some  fu- 
ture period  have  the  power,  with  greater  prospect  of  success,  of  de- 
termining on  that  permanent  assistance  which  must  sooner  or  later 
be  required. 

"It  is  our  prayer  that  your  valuable  life  may  yet  be  long  pre- 
served ;  but  uncertain  as  life  and  health  are,  it  will  afford  your 
good  mind  no  small  satisfaction  to  know,  that  whenever  the  Al- 
mighty may  please  to  call  you  from  us,  you  will  leave  your  be- 
loved charge  with  the  prospect  of  their  being  able  to  call  a  suc- 
cessor, with  whose  character  and  talents  you  are  not  altogether  un- 
acquainted. 

"  To  your  serious  consideration  we  submit  the  above  state- 
ment, and  respectfully  subscribe  ourselves  your  fellow-servants  in 
the  Lord. 

"  SIGNED    BY    THE    SESSION." 


To  this  kind  and  considerate  letter  he  immediately  replied  in 
a  temper  of  mind  which  removed  every  difficulty. 

"TO   WILLIAM    TASSIE,    ESQ.,    LEICESTER    SQUARE. 

"  Salisbury  Place,  May  17,  1827. 
"My  Dear  Friend, — I  have  this  morning  received  the  plan 
(of  which  I  see  with  pleasure  you  are  the  composer  and  writer) 
suggested  by  our  elders  and  deacons ;  and  feel  truly  grateful  for 
the  spirit  that  breathes  in  it.  The  expense  is  the  only  thing 
that  lies  on  my  mind ;  and  you  will  perceive  the  propriety,  in- 
deed the  necessity,  of  the  cordial  concurrence  of  the  managers. 
I  can  only  add,  my  dear  friend,  that  if  anything  could  increase 
the  solemn  and  awful  obligation  to  spend  my  life  in  the  service 
of  the  souls  of  my  beloved  people,  under  which,  at  my  admission, 
I  voluntarily  brought,  myself,  it  would  bo  the  peaceable,  kind, 
and  generous  disposition  they  have  universally  manifested  to- 
wards myself  and  my  family  for  the  lengthened  space  of  five- 
and-forty  years.  And  if  the  Spirit  of  God  have  made  my  ser- 
vices in  any,  the  humblest  measure,  conducive  to  their  religious 


136  LETTER    TO    THE    REV.    MR.    HAY. 

progress  and  comfort,  let  the  gratitude  of  our  heart  ascend  to  God 
alone ! 

"  My  love  to  all  the  brethren :  accept  of  it  yourself;  and  believe 
me  to  remain,  my  dear  friend. — Very  affectionately  yours, 

"  Alexander  Waugh." 


Happy  were  it  for  the  church  of  Christ,  did  every  congrega- 
tion, when  placed  in  circumstances  of  similar  delicacy,  express 
themselves  in  equally  dutiful  language  to  their  aged  minister ; 
and  did  every  minister,  when  laboring  under  increasing  years 
and  infirmities,  accede  with  equal  readiness  to  the  just  and  rea- 
sonable desires  of  his  people. 

In  a  letter  to  the  compiler  of  these  papers,  written  about  this 
period,  he  thus  adverts  to  this  subject,  so  deeply  interesting  both 
to  himself  and  his  friends. 

"London,  May  23,  1827. 
"  My  own  health  is,  on  the  whole,  good ;  but  this  complaint 
in  my  ankle  has  disabled  me  from  walking  any  length  of  way. 
I  grieve  for  my  being  thus  prevented  from  continuing  the  pas- 
toral visitation.  My  good  people  have,  for  a  long  time,  been 
blaming  our  elders  and  deacons  for  allowing  me  to  take  three 
services  in  the  day,  and  have  been  urging  them  to  procure  sup- 
ply. I  have  for  some  months,  I  know  not  how,  felt  unable  to 
make  myself  heard  as  formerly :  this  is  attributed  to  exhaustion. 
The  elders  and  deacons  came  to  a  resolution,  at  last,  to  propose  a 
plan  of  constant  supply,  by  one  of  the  preachers ;  and  addressed  a 
very  kind  proposal  to  me  last  week  on  the  subject,  in  which  my  mind 
very  gratefully  acquiesced.  We  have  applied  to  Dr.  Peddie  and 
Mr.  John  Brown,  for  a  suitable  young  brother,  for  three  months  at 
a  time.  I  hope  and  pray  that  the  Lord  will  bless  the  plan,  not  for 
my  benefit  only,  but  eventually  for  the  good  of  the  congregation, 
when  I  am  no  more." 

A  preacher  having  been  sent  up  from  Scotland,  Dr.  Waugh 
had  thus  an  opportunity  of  accompanying  his  brother-in-law 
to  Brighton,  in  August,  1827.  On  the  Sabbath  before  he 
left  town  on  this  excursion,  he  preached  three  discourses  on 
the  relative  duties  of  husbands  and  wives,  masters  and  ser- 


HIS    LAST    PUBLIC    SERVICES.  137 

vants,  in  order  to  press  upon  bis  audience  attention  to  those 
domestic  duties  which  he  had  been  latterly  unable  to  recom- 
mend, as  formerly,  in  his  course  of  pastoral  visitation.  And 
when  at  Brighton,  although  he  had  been  advised  to  leave  for 
a  time  his  own  pulpit  for  the  sake  of  relaxation  to  mind  and 
body,  so  much  was  his  heart  interested  in  preaching  the  un- 
searchable riches  of  Christ,  that  no  persuasion  could  prevent 
him  from  assisting  some  one  of  his  Independent  brethren  every 
Sabbath.  In  October  he  returned  to  town,  and  on  the  7th 
preached  twice  in  Wells  Street ;  and  for  the  remainder  of  that 
month,  and  till  his  death,  he  regularly  officiated  once  every 
Lord's  day. 

On  the  2d  day  of  December,  1827,  he  closed  his  public 
services  among  the  people  of  his  immediate  charge  by  an 
evening  sermon,  addressed,  in  course,  to  the  young,  founded  on 
Eph.  iv.  18.  On  the  9th  day  of  the  month,  the  last  Sabbath 
of  his  ministry  and  of  his  life,  he  was  employed  in  another 
congregation  in  close  connection  with  his  own,  not  only  in 
preaching  the  Gospel,  but  in  dispensing  the  memorials  of  his 
dying  Lord.  Little  was  it  apprehended  by  his  fellow-com- 
municants, though  perhaps  not  altogether  unexpected  by  him- 
self, that  he  should  partake  "  no  more  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine, 
until  that  day"  when  he  should  meet  his  Lord  in  the  king- 
dom of  his  Father.  But  we  reserve  the  details  of  the  closing 
scene  of  his  life  for  a  subsequent  Chapter,  when  they  will  be 
introduced  more  appropriately. 

In  giving  the  following  account  of  Dr.  Waugh's  pulpit  min- 
istrations, we  deem  it  proper  to  express  our  grateful  acknowl- 
edgments to  some  of  his  clerical  brethren  in  the  metropolis, 
and  to  mention  that  we  have  liberally  availed  ourselves  of 
their  kind  and  valuable  strictures.  While  no  one  could  fail 
to  receive  a  distinct  and  powerful  impression  from  his  minis- 
try, it  partook,  at  the  same  time,  of  a  character  which  it  would 
be  most  difficult  successfully  to  define.  Those  to  whom  his 
ministrations  were  familiar,  have  a  portrait  yet  glowing  in 
their  recollections  far  more  impressive  than  any  we  can  hope 
to  delineate.     lie  had  copied  no  man  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 


138  CHARACTER    OF    HIS    PULPIT    MINISTRATIONS. 

he  was  superior  to  the  petty  arts  of  an  affected  originality. 
His  composition,  his  manner,  and  the  order  and  arrangement 
of  the  all-important  truths  he  uttered,  were  peculiarly  his  own. 
The  solemn  and  dignified  mien  which  he  always  exhibited  in 
the  pulpit,  was  the  appropriate  index  of  a  mind  deeply  hal- 
lowed and  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  high  and  sacred  func- 
tions in  which  he  was  engaged.  It  was  impossible  to 
behold  his  large,  athletic  form — his  commanding  and  expres- 
sive eye — his  open,  expanded  forehead,  beaming  with  kind- 
ness and  benevolence — and  to  listen  to  his  impressive  tones, 
and  still  more  impressive  sentiments,  without  feeling  a  meas- 
ure of  that  reverence  and  holy  awe  which  become  the  house 
of  God. 

This    sensation  was    generally  and  powerfully  felt  in   the 
audience  when  he  addressed  himself  to  the  solemn   duty  of 
intercession  and  thanksgiving.     It  has  been  admitted  by  all 
parties,  that  he  possessed  an   extraordinary  and  pre-eminent 
gift  in  prayer,  which  has  seldom  been  equalled  in  the  minis- 
try of  the  church.     From  the  earliest  period  of  his  public  life 
he  was  remarkable  for  the  sublimity  of  his  devotional  concep- 
tions, for  their  richness  and  variety,  and  the  freedom  and  pathos 
which  characterized  his  expressions;  and  as  age  and  experi- 
ence matured  his  intellectual  and  moral  faculties,  he  became 
still  more  eminent  in  those  high  qualities  which  shed  a  mild 
lustre  on  his  opening  ministry.     His  pulpit  addresses  to  the 
Deity  were  presented  with  eyes  uplifted  to  heaven  ;  a  method 
which,  however  objectionable  and  irreverent  as  practised  by 
some,  was,  in  his  case,  connected  with  no  other  impressions 
than    those  of  profound   solemnity   and    the    most    hallowed 
devotion.     In  his   countenance   the  attentive  observer    might 
have  distinctly  traced  the  combined  feelings  of  lofty  adoration, 
penitential    abasement,   believing  confidence,   and  filial  grati- 
tude ;  and  it  was  no  uncommon   thino-  to  see  the   big  tear 
trickling  down  his  cheek,  while  his   full,  expressive   eye  was 
directed  to  heaven.     The  impression  conveyed  to  every  wor- 
shipper   was,    that    the  venerable  supplicant    was  conversing 
with  God,  and  that  he  was  deeply  solicitous  to  draw  all  who 


PULPIT    MINISTRATIONS.  139 

listened  to  him  into  the  same  holy  and  endeared  fellowship 
which  it  was  his  privilege  to  enjoy.  His  celebration  of  the 
Divine  perfections,  his  recognition  of  an  all-pervading  Provi- 
dence, his  confessions  of  human  guilt  and  apostasy,  and  his 
tender  and  melting  references  to  the  cross  of  Christ,  were  such 
as  to  awaken  and  call  forth  the  strongest  sentiments  of  devo- 
tion, lie  knew  likewise  how  to  embody  the  particular  exi- 
genciea  of  the  church,  how  to  vary  his  petitions  and  thanks- 
givings as  circumstances  might  dictate,  how  to  anticipate  the 
wants  and  feelings  of  human  nature,  and  how  to  adapt  him- 
self to  the  successive  stages  and  numerous  fluctuations  of 
Christian  experience.  It  is  not,  therefore,  wonderful  that 
his  prayers  were  held  in  peculiarly  high  estimation  by  the 
people  of  his  charge,  as  there  was  perhaps  no  part  of  his  min- 
isterial service  so  beneficial  in  producing  serious  impressions 
of  Divine  things,  and  kindling  feelings  of  ardent,  elevated 
piety  in  the  soul.  At  public  meetings  of  special  solemnity, 
his  brethren  were  accustomed  to  solicit  him  to  open  the  ser- 
vices by  prayer.  One  of  his  friends  mentions,  that  his  sup- 
plications and  intercessions  at  the  funeral  services  of  Mr. 
Hardcastle  and  of  Dr.  Bogue,  and  on  some  other  public  occa- 
sions, were  so  particularly  appropriate  and  solemnly  impres- 
sive, that  they  can  scarcely  be  forgotten  by  any  who  heard 
them. 

lie  was  also  "  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,"  and  greatly  ex- 
celled as  a  preacher  of  the  word.  By  a  long  course  of  study 
and  reflection,  he  was  not  only  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
Divine  truths  in  their  various  bearings  and  relations,  but  had 
made  himself  master  of  the  poetry  and  history  of  the  sacred 
writings,  and  knew  how  to  render  all  these  different  resources 
available  for  the  great  purposes  of  instruction,  impression, 
warning,  and  consolation.  Agreeably  to  the  practice  of  Scot- 
land, he  regularly  expounded,  during  the  morning  service,  a 
portion  of  Scripture ;  a  mode  of  instruction  which,  when 
skilfully  conducted,  will  furnish  a  minister  with  great  facili- 
ties for  leading  his  people  into  a  clear  and  just  view  of  the 
sentiments  of  the  sacred  writers,  for  arresting  their   attention 


140  PULPIT    MINISTRATIONS. 

by  a  variety  of  interesting  topics,  and  for  deducing  important 
reflections,  exhortations,  or  admonitions,  peculiarly  calculated 
to  implant  or  cherish  a  life  of  piety  in  the  soul.  On  the  first 
Sabbath  of  his  ministry  in  Wells  Street,  he  commenced  his 
labors  by  expounding  a  part  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  Luke,  and 
lectured  successively  through  all  the  books  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament. In  1805  he  somewhat  varied  his  usual  method,  by 
lecturing  each  alternate  Sabbath  on  the  book  of  Psalms  and 
on  the  Old  Testament  history,  commencing  with  that  of 
Abraham,  in  which  he  continued  until  the  year  of  his  death. 
He  closed  his  lectures  on  the  Old  Testament  history  in  May, 
1827,  with  Ezra  x.  1 — 14;  and  on  the  Psalms,  on  the  24th 
of  June  the  same  year,  with  Psalm  cxviii.  22,  23.  In  this 
department  of  public  instruction  he  greatly  excelled.  With 
a  mind  richly  furnished  from  the  stores  of  general  knowledge, 
he  had  deeply  studied  human  nature  in  every  variety  of  char- 
acter ;  and  in  illustrating  the  great  and  leading  doctrines  of  the 
Gospel,  he  knew  how  to  approach  it  in  all  the  different  aspects 
which  it  assumed  :  while  he  was  ever  most  faithful  to  the  eter- 
nal interests  of  men,  he  had  a  winning  method  by  which  he  con- 
ciliated their  prejudices,  and  thereby  secured  an  avenue  to  the 
conscience  and  the  heart.  His  exposition  of  the  book  of  Psalms 
showed  how  deeply  he  entered  into  the  spirit  of  these  remarka- 
ble compositions,  so  wonderfully  suited  to  every  diversified  con- 
dition and  circumstance  of  the  pious  mind  ;  and  how  carefully 
lie  had  labored  to  trace  their  connection  with  the  history  of  God's 
ancient  church,  or  with  the  rising  glories  of  Messiah's  kingdom 
of  righteousness  and  peace. 

But  his  excellence  as  a  lecturer  shone  forth  with  greatest 
lustre  in  Scripture  history,  and  in  the  delineation  of  Scripture 
characters.  Few  men  could  exhibit  with  such  striking  effect 
the  beautiful  family  pictures  furnished  us  by  the  sacred  writers, 
or  render  them  so  subservient  to  the  high  purposes  of  pro- 
moting domestic  devotion,  and  of  strengthening  holy  affection 
and  confidence.  He  knew  how  to  select,  to  combine,  and  to 
apply.  His  sketches  were  of  the  living,  rather  than  of  the 
dead  :  without  any  of  the  unfair  means  of  romance,  he  brought 


PULPIT    MINISTRATIONS.  Ill 

back  to  view,  with  singular  felicity,  the  men  of  former  ages, 
and  presented  them  to  the  notice  of  his  hearers  in  the  full 
array  of  human  passions  and  of  human  conflict,  each  perform- 
ing his  part  on  the  great  theatre  of  life,  and  each  opposing  or 
subserving  the  great  ends  of  the  Divine  government.  He 
could  mark  the  most  minute  bearings  of  a  character,  exhibit 
as  important  what  an  ordinary  mind  would  have  totally 
overlooked,  and  deduce  those  moral  and  Christian  lessons 
which  a  less  fertile  imagination  and  a  colder  heart  would  have 
failed  to  recognize.  There  was  a  fine  infusion  of  poetry  and 
simple  rural  feeling  in  all  his  delineations.  The  scenery  and 
the  history  of  his  native  country  had  wrought  themselves 
deeply  into  the  very  texture  of  his  conceptions;  and  he  knew 
not  how  to  speak  on  any  animating  topic,  human  or  divine, 
without  employing  that  beautiful  and  impressive  imagery  by 
which  his  mind  was  refined  and  elevated.  Those  who  had 
the  privilege  of  listening  to  his  lectures  on  the  history  and 
character  of  Abraham,  of  David,  of  Paul,  of  John,  and,  above 
all,  of  Him  "  who  was  fairer  than  the  sons  of  men,"  will  be  able, 
in  some  measure,  to  appreciate  the  justice  of  these  remarks  ; 
though  nothing  that  can  be  said  will  fully  recall  the  rich  pecu- 
liarities of  a  mind  in  which  the  best  sympathies  of  human  na- 
ture occupied  such  a  distinguished  place,  and  exerted  such  a 
salutary  influence. 

Much  as  Dr.  Waugh's  mind  was  imbued  with  a  taste  for 
the  classic  writers,  and  much  as  he  had  cultivated  almost 
every  subject  connected  with  sacred  literature,  never  was  ;i 
ministry  more  devoid  of  everything  like  learned  parade;  and 
never  was  there  one  which  more  simply  and  uniformly  pre- 
sented the  doctrine  of  Christ  and  him  crucified  to  the  view 
of  men  sinking  and  withering  under  the  curse  of  sin.  His 
sermons,  in  general,  were  distinguished  by  the  strength  and 
justness  of  their  theological  bearings;  with  him  the  trumpet 
was  never  permitted  to  give  an  uncertain  sound.  The  love 
of  God,  the  atonement  of  Christ,  and  the  gracious  and  re- 
generating influences  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  producing  holiness 
of  heart   and    life,   were    his    darling    themes,  and    imparted  a 


142  PULPIT    MINISTRATIONS. 

distinct  and  unequivocal  character  to  all  his  discourses. 
When  he  spoke  of  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  it  seemed 
as  if  a  live  coal  from  off  the  altar  had  touched  his  lips.  In 
the  pulpit,  and  particularly  at  the  sacramental  table,  his 
whole  soul  was  animated  at  the  thought  of  Christ  dying  for 
the  ungodly.  Could  a  collection  of  his  most  striking  sayings 
on  this  subject  be  made,  it  would  prove  at  once  the  origin- 
ality of  his  conceptions,  and  the  glowing  warmth  of  his 
piety.  The  system  of  theology  which  he  had  adopted  led 
him  to  proclaim  with  equal  fearlessness  the  doctrine  of  free 
grace  to  the  chief  of  sinners  through  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  uni- 
versal and  eternal  obligation  of  moral  precepts  on  the  whole 
family  of  man.  lie  firmly  believed  that  all  evil  was  neces- 
sarily of  the  creature,  and  all  good  of  the  infinite  Creator; 
he  considered  men  as  strictly  responsible  for  all  their  actions ; 
and  viewed  the  call  of  the  Gospel  as  addressed,  without  excep- 
tion, to  every  human  being.  Nothing  was  held  by  him  in 
such  deep  abhorrence  as  that  mode  of  preaching  which  tends 
to  wreaken  and  relax  the  sacred  obligation  of  the  Divine  law 
on  the  heart  and  life.  Many  years  ago,  a  very  popular 
clergyman  had  preached  a  sermon  at  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  London  Missionary  Society,  on  the  influences  of  the 
Spirit, — a  sermon  which  certainly  excited  a  considerable 
sensation  through  the  church  in  which  it  was  delivered.  Dr. 
Waugh,  whose  general  disposition  was  to  praise,  was  silent. 
At  length  he  said  :  "  I  am  always  afraid  when  I  hear  any 
minister  speak  on  the  influences  of  the  Spirit  without  ap- 
pealing to  the  Word  of  God :  it  is  a  dangerous  practice.  I 
know  not  where  a  man  will  land  who  goes  to  sea  without 
chart  or  compass.  Never  let  us  separate  what  God  has 
united,  and  let  all  the  evidences  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  influence 
be  decided  by  the  Word  of  God."  Facts,  years  after- 
wards justified  these  observations.  That  clergyman  grad- 
ually went  off  into  all  the  peculiarities  of  a  school  bor- 
dering on  Antinomianism,  and  has  left  in  his  later  writings 
a  nidus  which  will  spread  the  moral  pestilence  among  his 


PULPIT    MINISTRATIONS.  I  13 

admirers  and  readers.  ( >n  another  occasion,  a  minister  of 
real  piety,  though  he  entertained   imperfect  and  unscriptural 

views  of  moral  obligation,  happened  to  be  dining  in  com- 
pany with  Dr.  Wangh  at  Mr.  Bardcastle's  table.  This  gentle- 
man spoke  of  the  beauty  of  St.  Paul's  epistle  to  the  Ephesians, 
and  of  the  enjoyment  which  he  at  that  time  experienced  in 
the  delivery  of  a  course  of  lectures  on  that  epistle;  and  said 
that  he  intended  to  close  his  exposition  with  the  third  chapter, 
— assigning  as  a  motive,  that  if  his  people  understood  the  doc- 
trine of  the  first  three  chapters,  they  would  practise,  without  his 
instructions,  the  last  three.  l>r.  Waugh  took  up  the  subject, 
and  fully  and  faithfully,  yet  with  the  kindest  spirit,  defended  tlic 
importance  and  necessity  of  expounding  also  the  practical  pail 
of  the  epistle,  without  which  no  minister  could  be  said  to  de- 
clare the  whole  counsel  of  God. 

On  public  occasions  his  discourses  were  very  brilliant  and 
figurative:  but  in  his  ordinary  ministrations  he  sought  the 
good  of  all  for  edification,  and  labored  with  unrivalled 
assiduity  to  promote  Christian  principles  and  Christian  hab- 
its among  a  people  to  whom  he  had  devoted  the  studies, 
the  instructions,  and  prayers  of  a  long  and  useful  life.  J  lis 
mind  was  not  peculiarly  formed  for  close  and  long-continued 
reasoning.  His  was  not  so  much  the  mental  energy  of  Paul, 
delighting  itself  with  the  weapons  of  argument,  as  it  was  the 
benevolence  of  John,  pouring  out  a  full  heart  in  all  the  melt- 
ings of  l>ivine  compassion.  He  disarmed  by  love.  One  felt 
ashamed  not  to  love  his  Master  and  his  theme.  The  beautiful, 
tli.'  tender,  the  sublime,  came  at  his  bidding,  to  illustrate  or  en- 
force his  subject;  while  every  eye  and  every  heart  throughout 
the  audience  bore  witness  to  his  powerful  and  impressive  in- 
structions. The  Rev.  Mr.  Jay  said,  more  than  twenty  years 
ago,  to  a  minister  yet  living,  when  lie  heard  Dr.  Waugh  preach 
a  lecture  at  Fetter  Lane,  on  the  manner  in  which  a  Christian 
should  die,  "  All  our  young  ministers,  and  candidates  for  the 
ministry,  ought  to  hear  Waugh:  use  all  your  influence  ("  in- 
duce them  to  do  so." 


144  PULPIT    MINISTRATIONS. 

The  following  portrait  of  Dr.  Waugh  as  a  preacher  ap- 
peared several  years  ago  in  a  religious  periodical  of  respecta- 
bility. It  is  known  to  have  been  sketched  by  the  same 
graphic  hand  that  delineated  liomaine  and  Lavington,  and 
has  been  recognized  by  many  of  his  hearers  as  very  characteris- 
tic :— 

"  Were  we  to  delineate  the  Doctor  in  the  parlor,  we  should 
sketch  the  traits  of  a  cheerful  companion  and  a  devout  and  af- 
fectionate pastor ;  but  our  business  is  with  him  in  the  pulpit. 
Here  we  see  the  venerable  man  of  God — 

'  Much  impressed 
Himself,  as  conscious  of  his  awful  charge, 
And  anxious  maiuly  that  the  flock  he  feeds 
May  feel  it  too ;  affectionate  in  look, 
And  tender  in  address,  as  well  becomes 
A  messenger  of  grace  to  guilty  men.' 

"  The  winter  of  years,  as  he  would  perhaps  say,  in  meta- 
phorical language,  has  whitened  his  head  with  its  snows : 
but  though  he  has  nearly  reached  the  term  of  man's  life,  age 
has  not  made  his  manly  and  athletic  form  to  stoop,  nor  para- 
lyzed his  energies,  nor  destroyed  the  vigor  of  his  imagina- 
tion, nor  extinguished  the  fire  of  his  eye.  There  is  something 
venerable  and  commanding  in  his  appearance :  in  the  pulpit 
he  is  becomingly  grave;  in  prayer  he  is  devoutly  solemn; 
and  on  public  occasions,  especially  at  the  dedication  of  a 
place  of  worship  to  the  service  of  God,  or  of  a  young 
minister  to  the  sacred  office,  he  overwhelms  the  soul  with 
the  sense  of  the  presence  of  that  Divine  Being,  who  '  in  very 
deed  will  dwell  with  man  upon  earth,'  and  is  the  hearer  and 
answerer  of  prayer.  In  preaching  at  home  he  varies  exceed- 
ingly. Sometimes  his  energies  seem  all  dying,  his  voice  fails, 
and  his  imagination  makes  no  effort  to  take  wing :  at  other 
times,  he  repays  the  constant  hearer  for  these  disappoint- 
ments, by  all  that  can  charm  his  mind  and  touch  his  heart. 
His  whole  soul  is  inflamed  with  his  subject ;  his  imagination 


ll  LI'Ll    MINISTRATIONS.  145 

seems  to  regain  all  the  vigor  of  its  earliest  years,  yet  chast- 
ened by  the  maturity  of  age.  He  makes  the  heart  of  the 
Christian  glow  with  the  hopes  and  promises  of  the  Gospel ; 
searches  the  professor's  bosom  as  if  he  would  lay  it  open  be- 
fore the  whole  congregation ;  and  causes  the  ears  of  the  sin- 
ner to  tingle,  the  joints  of  his  loins  to  be  loosed,  and  his 
knees  to  smite  one  against  the  other.  He  frequently  em- 
ploys the  most  beautiful  imagery,  and,  attached  strongly  to 
his  native  land,  he  seizes  figures  from  the  cloud-capped 
mountains,  or  craggy  cliffs,  or  foaming  cataracts,  or  glassy 
lakes  of  Scotland.*     His  divisions  are  numerous, — sometimes 

*  The  following  remarks,  by  one  of  his  sons,  exhibit  in  a  striking 
point  of  view  the  talent  which  he  possessed  of  arresting  the  attention 
or  touching  the  affections  of  his  hearers,  by  occasional  animating  ap- 
peals to  their  national  or  local  reminiscences : — 

"  His  congregation,  though  originally  almost  exclusively  from  the 
North,  was  composed  of  a  population  of  considerable  diversity, — Scot- 
tish Highlanders,  Lowlanders,  Borderers,  and  a  few  natives  of  the 
north  of  England ;  but  so  well  was  he  acquainted  with  his  hearers, 
that  he  knew  from  what  part  of  the  country  every  family  or  individual 
came  ;  and,  as  his  knowledge  of  Scotland,  its  general  history,  local 
traditions,  remarkable  scenery,  and  distinguished  characters,  was  very 
extensive,  he  was  enabled  to  avail  himself  of  the  feelings  and  predilec- 
tions of  his  people,  and  of  Scotchmen  in  general,  in  a  manner  peculiarly 
his  own.  In  the  illustration  of  his  discourses,  the  most  beautiful  and 
vivid  passages  appeared  frequently  to  be  suggested  at  the  moment,  by 
his  catching  the  eye  of  some  attentive  listener,  and  thence  suiting  his 
address,  as  it  were,  more  directly  to  his  immediate  apprehension,  yet 
in  a  manner  highly  interesting  to  all.  The  Highlanders  he  would  arouse 
with  the  stern  and  striking  imagery  of  the  torrents,  lakes,  craggy  cliffs, 
and  lonely  heaths  of  their  mountain  land, — and  that  not  in  the  vague 
terms  of  general  allusion,  but  by  calling  up  the  hills  and  streams  and 
glens  by  name  before  them, — Ben  Lomond,  Ben  Nevis,  Glengarry,  the 
Spcy,  the  Tay,  etc.  To  the  hearts  of  the  Lowlanders  he  would  appeal 
with  the  softer  pastoral  recollections  of  Teviotdale  or  Lammermuir,  of 
Cheviot  or  Pentland  hills,  of  Nithsdale  or  Stitchell-brae.  To  the  En 
glish  borderers  he  would  recall  the  field  of  Flodden,  the  Till,  the  Otter- 
burn,  the  feudal  days  of  Percy  and  Douglas,  <fec.  Often,  in  this  manner, 
has  every  member  in  his  congregation  had  the  scenes  of  his  \  outh  and 


146  PULPIT    MINISTRATIONS. 

too  numerous, — leaving  little  room  for  amplification.  His 
topics  are  generally  of  a  practical  kind,  but  always  grafted  on 
evangelical  truth.  lie  uses  notes,  which  seem  to  contain  the 
heads,  and  perhaps  leading  illustrations  of  his  sermons ;  and 
he  appears  occasionally  to  enlarge  on  these  extempore,  when 
he  throws  out  his  most  beautiful  thoughts,  now  and  then 
hampered  in  his  haste  for  a  word  or  words  to  express  them  * 
He  handles  figures  with  great  taste  and  delicacy,  when  they 
occur  in  his  texts  and  quotations ;  and  the  beauties  of  nature 
have  evidently  been  objects  of  his  frequent  meditation.  There 
is  occasionally  a  recurrence  of  the  same  figures  and  modes  of 
expression  where  he  is  often  heard,  but  many  of  them  will  bear 
repetition. 

"  Using  notes  and  spectacles,  he  is  much  confined  in  ac- 
tion ;  but  sometimes  he  throws  aside  his  glasses,  and  breaks 
forth  in  tones  and  emotions  of  vehemence,  especially  near  the 
end  of  his  discourse.      His   accent  very  strongly  marks    his 

his  early  associations,  as  connected  with  his  religious  feelings  and  moral 
duties,  brought  vividly  to  his  recollection  in  illustration  of  the  subject 
on  which  his  pastor  was  preaching  or  lecturing.  And  thus  he  could 
make  of  importance  the  little  hill  or  brae,  the  silent  rock  or  bosky 
burn,  which,  unnoticed  by  all  the  world  beside,  gave  character  and  life 
to  the  tender  reminiscences  of  many  a  poor  man  and  woman,  whose 
days  of  joyous  childhood  had  been  spent  among  such  scenes.  They 
felt  it  of  importance  that  their  brae  or  their  burn  should  be  known  to 
their  minister,  and  wondered  that  he  should  be  able  to  describe  thom 
with  a  fidelity  so  correct,  and  to  enter  into  their  feelings  with  all  the 
enthusiasm  of  a  companion  of  their  youth, — and  even  to  draw  forth 
beauties  in  those  scenes,  by  his  picturesque  sketches,  which  had  scarce- 
ly ever  before  attracted  their  notice.  To  persons  long  absent  from  their 
native  land,  but  who  cherished,  even  in  old  age,  sentiments  of  ardent 
attachment  to  it,  it  may  be  imagined  how  touchingly  affecting  this 
mode  of  illustration  often  proved." 

*  AVhen  thus  embarrassed,  which  arose  solely  from  his  momentary 
non -recollection  of  an  English  word  to  express  fully  his  meaning,  lie 
would  avail  himself  of  hi*  intimate  knowledge  of  the  proverbial  phrases 
of  his  dear  native  land,  to  the  great  delight  of  his  elder  auditors,  as 
often  read  in  their  brightening  countenances. 


PULPIT    MINISTRATIONS.  14*7 

country,  and,  to  strangers,  rentiers  his  language  not  always 
intelligible  ;  but  by  hearing  him  a  few  times  the  difficulty 
ceases." 

One  of  his  friends  has  characterized  his  preaching  as  "  more 
devotional  than  profound,  more  eloquent  than  controversial, 
and  more  energetic  than  critical."  He  adds  that  a  remark 
made  by  Dr.  Waugh  on  another  minister  furnishes  a  key  to 
the  secret  of  his  own  influence  as  a  preacher  and  a  public  char- 
acter. "  They  talk  of  eloquence,"  he  observed  ;  "  but  (pointing 
to  the  individual)  that  is  the  most  eloquent  man  I  ever  heard 
in  London.  He  has  so  much  of  God  about  him,  that  he  runs 
away  with  my  heart.  Few  men  can  understand  an  abstract 
argument,  but  all  men  can  feel  the  force  of  sincerity,  earnest- 
ness, and  benevolence,  from  the  lips  of  the  man  of  God ;  and. 
the  scepticism  and  insensibility  of  the  human  mind,  which  are 
proof  against  the  most  powerful  reasonings,  are  often  melted 
and  subdued  by  the  fervor  of  a  pious,  enlightened,  and  scrip- 
tural devotion." 

"  For  many  years,"  says  another  friend,  "  he  was  a  close 
student  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  of  the  most  approved  works 
on  theology  and  general  literature ;  seldom  venturing  to  the 
pulpit  till  after  the  most  mature  preparation,  having  both 
written  his  discourses,  and  committed  them  carefully  to  mem- 
ory. In  process  of  time,  however,  he  found  it  both  un- 
necessary and  impracticable  to  persevere  in  this  rigid  method 
of  pulpit  preparation.  It  was  unnecessary ;  for  his  stores  of 
information  were  rapidly  accumulating,  and  his  habits  of 
communication  were  every  day  acquiring  new  facilities.  It 
was  impracticable  ;  for  the  great  cause  of  missions  had  roused 
his  benevolent  mind,  and  he  felt  he  must  study  less,  and  act 
more.  From  that  time  forward  he  never  wrote  out  his  ser- 
mons fully,  but  contented  himself  with  a  brief  outline  of  the 
train  of  thought  he  intended  to  pursue,  leaving  the  minute 
character  of  illustration  to  depend  upon  existing  circumstances 
and  feelings ;  and,  above  all,  looking  up  for  large  supplies  of 
that  Divine  Spirit  who  can  suggest  suitable  thoughts  to  the 


148  PUBLIC    LECTURES. 

minds  of  Christ's  servants,  and  render  these  effectual  to  the 
edification  of  the  church.  We  shall  only  add,  that,  in  some  of 
his  extempore  addresses,  his  first  thoughts  produced  an  effect 
upon  the  public  mind  which  the  most  studied  and  accurate 
compositions  might  have  failed  to  realize.  Let  all  who  would 
aim  at  Dr.  Waugh's  ultimate  method  of  study,  remember  the 
process  by  which  he  arrived  at  it.  Let  them  study  as  much, 
and  as  long  as  he  did,  and  then  their  pulpit  labors  will  neither 
be  disgraced  by  meagre  trains  of  thought,  nor  by  a  style  of 
language  mean  and  powerless." 

From  the  period  of  his  ordination  at  jNewtowrn,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1*780,  he  kept  a  memorandum-book,  in  which  he 
most  carefully  marked  every  passage  of  Scripture  from  which 
he  had  preached,  with  the  date  of  time  and  place ;  and  so 
accurately  had  he  attended  to  this,  that  the  very  last  text 
from  which  he  had  preached,  in  Albion  Chapel,  only  a  few 
days  before  his  death,  was  found  inserted  by  his  own  hand. 
From  this  book  it  appears  that  lie  was  abundant  in  labors. 
He  was  accustomed,  from  the  commencement  of  his  ministry 
in  Wells  Street,  as  we  have  already  noticed,  with  a  few  ex- 
ceptions arising  from  indisposition  and  the  infirmities  of  age, 
to  officiate  three  times  every  Sabbath, — lecturing  in  the 
morning,  and  preaching  in  the  afternoon  and  evening.  In 
1796,  he  began  to  give  occasional  lectures  in  Fetter  Lane, 
which  he  continued  till  July,  182*7,  having  preached  one 
hundred  and  twenty-two  sermons.  In  May,  1803,  he  com- 
menced lecturing  in  Camomile  Street  on  Sabbath  morning  at 
seven  o'clock,  sleeping  overnight  at  a  friend's  house  in  the 
city;  and  continued  to  lecture  till  June,  1827,  having  preached 
seventy  sermons.  On  these  occasions,  he  generally  preach- 
ed, as  usual,  three  times  at  Wells  Street ;  thus  preaching- 
four  times  on  the  Sabbath.  His  lectures  at  Crown  Court 
commenced  in  1802,  and  continued  till  1826,  during  which 
time  he  preached  there  forty-four  discourses. — The  Rev.  Dr. 
Winter  has  kindly  favored  us  with  an  account  of  these  lec- 
tures, which  will  be  gratifying  to  some  of  our  readers : — 
"  The   lecture   in    Fetter    Lane    was   cuiiducted   on    Thursday 


NUMBER    OF    HIS    TUBLIC    DISCOURSES.  149 

evenings,  on  a  variety  of  topics  appointed  by  the  preachers  at 
the  commencement  of  each  year.  It  is  now  discontinued.  It 
originated  about  sixty  years  ago,  at  Little  Wild  Street;  thence 
it  was  removed  to  New  Court,  Carey  Street ;  and  thence,  many 
years  since,  to  the  Rev.  George  Burder's  Chapel,  Fetter  Lane. 
That  in  Camomile  Street,  now  removed  to  New  Broad  Street, 
is  a  weekly  service  for  eight  months  in  the  year,  on  a  Lord's 
clay  morning,  at  seven  o'clock.  It  was  instituted  in  the  mem- 
orable year  1G88.  In  Crown  Court  there  were  two  weekly 
lectures,  the  one  on  Sabbath  evening,  the  other  on  Tuesday 
evening.  The  former  was  of  long  standing;  the  latter  existed 
but  a  short  time." 

Besides  these  stated  labors,  he  was  frequently  called  to  preach 
on  public  occasions  in  almost  every  part  of  London  and  the 
neighborhood;  so  that  from  1802,  when  he  had  become  gen- 
erally known,  it  was  very  common  for  him  to  preach  eighteen 
or  twenty  times  during  the  month,  including  his  ministra- 
tions at  his  own  chapel.  A  friend,  who  has  been  at  the  pains 
to  extract  from  his  memorandum-book  the  number  of  his  pub- 
lic discourses,  finds  that  they  amount  to  seven  thousand  seyen 
hundred  and  six  sermons  and  lectures,  from  his  ordination  in 
September,  1780,  to  his  death  in  1827;  averaging,  by  more 
than  four  hundred,  three  discourses  on  every  Sabbath  during 
that  long  period,  though  he  had  again  and  again,  for  consider- 
able intervals,  been  disabled  for  all  public  labors :  so  fully  did 
lie  exemplify  his  favorite  aphorism,  "  work  on  earth,  rest  in 
heaven."* 

The   following   communications    respecting   his   ministerial 


*  It  is  mentioned  by  a  member  of  his  family,  that  when,  on  account 
of  the  lectures  at  Camomile  Street,  ifce.  he  had  preached  four  times  on 
the  Sabbath,  he  was  wont  to  return  home  in  the  evening,  though  often 
much  exhausted,  in  higher  spirits  than  usual,  from  the  consciousness 
of  having  been  more  fully  employed  in  his  Master's  service ;  and,  on 
the  contrary,  when,  owing  to  indisposition  or  other  necessary  obstacle, 
he  was  prevented  from  preaching  at  least  thrice,  he  was  depressed  with 
a  feeling  of  not  having  fully  performed  his  duty,  and  of  being,  as  it 
were,  "  but  an  unprofitable  servant." 


150  CONGREGATIONAL    LABORS. 

services  (the  first  received  from  a  much-respected  member  of 
his  Session,  the  other  from  one  of  his  own  family),  will  be  in- 
teresting to  our  readers,  by  giving  a  short  detail  of  the  numer- 
ous and  important  labors  in  the  congregation  which  occupied 
his  attention,  besides  his  regular  public  instructions  from  the 
pulpit. 

"  His  conduct  in  the  Session,  as  moderator,  manifested  a  con- 
stant desire  to  procure  peace  and  unanimity,  and  an  anxiety  to 
avoid  whatever  might  have  a  tendency  for  a  moment  to  inter- 
rupt it,  either  among  themselves,  or  in  the  congregation  at 
large.  And  as  no  one  knew  better  the  constitution  of  man,  and 
how  to  gain  a  desirable  object,  without  hurting  the  feelings  or 
giving  offence,  he  succeeded  in  a  way  that  often  excited  the  ad- 
miration of  his  brethren. 

"In  all  their  deliberations  respecting  the  spiritual  con- 
cerns of  those  committed  to  their  charge,  fidelity  to  the  souls 
of  his  beloved  flock  was  ever  conspicuous.  No  vague  report 
prejudicial  to  character  was  tolerated  for  a  moment.  But 
when  truth  and  evidence  brought  the  conduct  of  any  into  se- 
rious investigation,  this  produced  feelings  and  expressions  of 
the  deepest  sorrow  and  regret,  as  well  as  ardent  prayers  for 
restoration. 

"  Being  seated  in  the  midst  of  his  Session,  in  the  vestry,  one 
Sabbath  evening,  a  stranger  came  up,  and  made  inquiry  re- 
specting some  particular  point  in  the  character  of  a  member 
of  his  congregation.  To  the  extent  of  the  inquiry  Dr.  Waugh 
gave  a  true  and  most  satisfactory  answer;  but  carefully  re- 
frained from  passing  any  judgment  on  his  general  character. 
On  the  inquirer  retiring,  a  member  of  the  Session — an  excellent 
man — cautioned  him  in  these  terms:  'You  know,  sir,  our 
Doctor  never  speaks  ill  o'  ony  man ;  indeed,  I  verily  believe 
that  if  Satan  himsel  were  to  ask  him  for  a  night's  lodging  on 
a  cauld  night,  he  wouldna  refuse  him.'  Dr.  Waugh  cast  a 
mildly-rebuking  look  at  the  speaker,  and  said,  '  Ah  !  my  man  ; 
I  much  fear  that  you  and  I  have  often  given  him  a  night's 
lodgings,  without  his  speering*  our  leave.'' 

*  Asking. 


CONGREGATIONAL    LABORS.  151 

"While  reproof  and  admonition  were  given  with  firmness 
and  fidelity,  pity,  sympathy,  and  love  formed  no  small  part  of 
this  ungracious,  but  imperative,  because  commanded,  duty  ;  and 
this  happy  union  of  justice  and  mercy  often  produced  most 
beneficial  effects.  Those  thoughtless  persons,  who,  after  giving 
themselves  to  Christ  and  the  church  by  profession,  fall  into 
snares  and  temptations,  are  little  sensible  of  the  concern  and 
grief  such  conduct  occasions  to  faithful  pastors,  who  watch  for 
their  souls  as  those  that  must  give  an  account. 

"No  ministerial  service  that  he  had  been  accustomed  to  per- 
form, as  moderator  in  the  Session,  was  ever  neglected  or  hurried 
through,  on  account  of  exhaustion  produced  by  previous  duties. 
The  Jong  list  of  church  members  was  invariably  read  over  at 
the  meeting  of  Session  previous  to  each  sacrament;  and  this 
useful  and  important  duty  he  himself  performed.  So  great  an 
interest  did  he  take  in  each  individual,  that  few  were  unknown 
to  him  as  to  character,  family,  and  situation  in  life;  and  from 
his  own  keen  observation  whilst  in  the  pulpit,  he  could  in  most 
cases  speak  of  the  degree  of  attention  given  to  the  public  ordi- 
nances. 

Anxiously  as  he  labored  for  the  immortal  interests  of  his 
people,  their  temporal  ease  and  comfort  were  by  no  means 
neglected  by  him.  The  poor  had  often  reason  to  bless  him; 
and  in  consequence  of  the  liberality  of  the  congregation,  he 
had  many  opportunities  of  indulging  the  kind  sympathies  of 
his  nature.  The  sick  and  dying  were  his  peculiar  care ;  and 
as  he  outlived  all  those  who  had  formed  his  congregation  at 
the  commencement  of  his  ministry  (with  only  one  or  two  ex- 
ceptions), this  duty  constituted  a  most  important  part  of  his 
labors.  How  large  must  be  the  number  of  those  he  has 
joined  before  the  throne,  whose  dying  breathings  and  aspira- 
tions he  assisted  when  they  wrere  entering  the  valley  and  sha- 
dow of  deatli  ! 

"  In  considering  the  temporal  good  he  bestowed,  it  is  proper 
to  mention  the  numerous  situations  which  the  influence  he 
possessed  enabled  him  to  procure  for  young  men  connected 
vith  the  congregation  ;  and  though  some  of  these  are  removed 


152  CONGREGATIONAL    LABORS. 

by  death,  there  are  many  remaining  to  bear  witness  to  his 
kindness. 

"The  very  laudable  custom  in  the  Secession  churches,  of 
annual  ministerial  family  visitation,  which  has  been  found  so 
beneficial  in  creating  and  cherishing  mutual  interest  and  friend- 
ship betwixt  pastor  and  people,  was,  till  the  latter  period  of  his 
life,  constantly  and  zealously  attended  to.  A  considerable  por- 
tion of  his  congregation  being  composed  of  the  working  classes, 
the  evening  was  the  only  period  that  afforded  convenient  op- 
portunities for  this  devotional  exercise.  When  the  extent  of 
ground  is  considered,  over  which  are  scattered  the  families  of  a 
Scotch  congregation  in  London,  it  will  cause  no  surprise  that 
the  performance  of  this  duty  should  at  last  become,  through 
age  and  increasing  debility,  very  limited  ;  but  the  sacrifice  was 
made  with  no  small  unwillingness  and  regret.  The  service,  as 
he  performed  it,  consisted  in  asking  the  children  various  ques- 
tions from  the  catechism ;  and  in  a  familiar  and  affectionate 
address  to  the  family  on  some  important  part  of  our  holy  faith, 
with  practical  deductions ;  the  whole  concluding  with  ardent 
supplications  to  the  Throne  of  Grace  for  blessings  suited  to  the 
situation  of  each  individual. 

"Another  duty  which  he  considered  of  importance  was 
performed  during  the  greater  part  of  his  ministry — that  of 
public  catechetical  instruction.  An  evening  in  each  week 
during  the  summer  months  was  devoted  to  this  purpose. 
On  the  preceding  Sabbath  he  intimated  the  numbers  of  the 
seats  the  proprietors  of  which  were  requested  to  attend.  The 
service  consisted  of  extensive  illustrations  of  the  questions  in 
the  Assembly's  Catechism,  and  of  answers  given  to  questions 
asked  on  such  topics  as  arose  in  the  course  of  the  conversa- 
tion. However  simply,  easily,  and  kindly  the  exercise  was 
managed,  he  found  that  there  existed  such  an  increasing  un- 
willingness on  the  part  of  the  people  to  come  forward  on 
these  occasions,  that  it  was,  with  great  reluctance  on  his  part, 
discontinued." 

The  following  circular,  addressed  to  each  member  of  his 
church,  will  servo  to  illustrate  the  deep  interest  and  the  mi- 


MINISTERIAL    VISITATION.  153 

nute  duties  which  he  cultivated  in  connection  with  his  office  as 
their  pastor : — 

'•  M\r  Dear  Friend, — The  church  being  divided  into  districts  cor- 
responding- to  the  number  of  the  elders,  and  some  little  alteration 
being  found  necessary  in  consequence  of  the  late  addition  to  the  el- 
dership, 1  send  this  to  inform  you  that  you  are  placed  in  the  division 
which  is  intrusted  to  the  spiritual  care  and  superintendence  of  our 
beloved  brother,  Mr. . 

"  We  nothing  doubt  but  that  the  members  of  the  church  will,  in 
the  language  of  the  apostle, '  know  them  that  are  over  them  in  the 
Lord,  and  esteem  them  very  highly  in  love,  for  their  work's  sake;' 
in  the  dark  hour  of  sickness  will  invite  them  to  pray  over  them;  to 
comfort  them,  by  conducting  the  troubled  mind  to  the  cross,  to 
the  precious  promises  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  scriptural  views  of 
the  holiness,  wisdom,  and  goodness  of  Divine  Providence,  in  all  our 
tribulations. 

"  It  is  very  desirable  that  the  afflicted  members  of  the  church  con- 
vey information  to  the  ministers  and  elders  of  their  indisposition,  as 
soon  as  possible ;  and  when  other  methods  fail,  it  is  requested  that 
they  send  word  by  the  two-penny  post. 

"  With  earnest  and  growing  concern  for  your  spiritual  welfare, 
and  the  welfare  of  all  who  are  dear  to  you, — I  remain,  my  dear 
friend,  your  affectionate  pastor, 

"  Al.  Waugh." 

"  In  the  performance  of  the  duty  of  ministerial  visitation," 
says  one  of  his  daughters,  "  much  of  my  dear  father's  time  was 
consumed.  For  many  months  in  the  year  the  evenings  of  two 
or  three  days  in  each  week  were  devoted  by  him  to  the  visiting 
of  his  people  from  house  to  house,  between  the  hours  of  six  and 
ten;  after  which  he  would  return  home  with  his  bodily  strength 
so  entirely  exhausted  as  frequently  to  alarm  his  family ;  but 
with  a  mind  cheerful  and  happy,  his  whole  heart  glowing  with 
gratitude  to  God  for  his  great  kindness  in  giving  him  strength 
to  do  his  work,  and  in  providing  him  so  many  comforts  when 
it  was  completed. 

"  On  the  first  Tuesday  of  every  month,  from  four  till  five 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  he  met  in  the  vestry  the  children 
of  his  congregation,  from  five  to  about  fourteen  years  of  age. 


154  CATECHIZING    OF    CHILDREN. 

He  heard  them  'all  repeat  their  Catechism,  and  the  younger 
ones  a  hymn  which  he  had  given  them  to  learn.  To  the 
older  ones  he  gave  a  question  from  Scripture  history,  to  be 
answered  in  writing  by  the  next  meeting.  He  advised  them 
to  make  their  answers  simple,  and  as  much  in  Scripture  lan- 
guage as  they  could,  that  he  might  see  they  had  sought  in 
the  Bible  for  their  knowledge.  This  plan  he  found  particu- 
larly beneficial,  and  often  expressed  his  surprise  and  pleasure 
at  the  answers  they  brought  him.  His  manner  to  them  was 
most  tender  and  kind ;  so  that  instead  of  seeking  to  escape 
from  their  lessons,  they  looked  forward  to  the  day  of  meet- 
ing him  with  great  delight,  and  felt  disappointed  if  anything 
prevented  his  attendance.*  He  was  always  particularly 
anxious  to  keep  his  monthly  engagement  with  the  children  ; 
insomuch  that,  when  in  health,  no  state  of  the  weather,  al- 
though he  resided  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  chapel,  ever  de- 
tained him  from  it, — nor  indeed  from  the  performance  of  any 
other  ministerial  service  in  his  own  chapel,  whether  he  was  at 
home  during  the  day,  or  out  upon  other  duties,  or  in  social 
family  parties.f  The  last  time  he  met  them  he  was  unusually 
pleased ;  he  himself  went  and  opened  the  door,  patted  them 
each  on  the  head  as  they  passed,  and  told  them  to  continue 
good  children,  and  to  be  sure  to  read  their  Bible. 

"  At  six  o'clock  on  the  same  evening  he  met  his  Session  ;  and 
at  seven  the  monthly  prayer-meeting  was  held. 

"Every   Tuesday  evening   during   the   winter   months,  he 

*  He  was  in  the  habit,  twice  in  the  year,  of  providing  a  little  colla- 
tion of  fruit  for  the  younger  children  in  the  vestry,  and  of  distributing 
it  among  them  with  his  own  hands,  accompanied  with  expressions  of 
parental  caution  or  encouragement  to  each,  suitable  to  their  several  ca- 
pacities and  characters.  This  i3  noticed  merely  as  a  slight  trait  indica- 
tive of  his  pastoral  benevolence. 

f  Since  the  removal  of  Dr.  "Waugh,  the  ministers  supplying  the  pul- 
pit in  "Wells  Street  have  occasionally  resumed  the  above  department  of 
pastoral  duty,  and  have  expressed  their  gratification  at  the  most  inter- 
esting evidences  given  by  these  young  children  of  the  uncommon  pains 
which  must  have  been  bestowed  on  their  instruction  in  divine  things  by 
their  late  minister. 


INSTRUCTION    OF   TIIJ<:    YOUNG.  155 

met  in  the  vestry,  for  two  hours,  the  young  unmarried  men 
of  his  congregation.  lie  read  and  explained  to  them  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  after  which  he  conversed  on  general 
subjects,  and  advised  them  what  books  to  read.*  In  this 
part  of  my  dear  father's  duty  he  always  felt  great  delight, 
and  expressed  much  satisfaction  at  the  respectful  and  most 
affectionate  conduct  of  the  young  men  to  him.  He  would 
often  say,  when  returning  home,  '  Well,  my  dear,  I  should 
be  happy  to-night,  for  I  have  had  a  delightful  evening  with 
my  good  lads,  who  I  am  sure  may  be  called  the  flower   of 

Lni.lol,.'" 

His  mode  of  addressing  the  young  men  on  these  occasions, 
and  of  stimulating  them  to  virtuous  conduct  by  stirring  up 
their  generous  affections,  is  well  illustrated  in  the  following  ex- 
tract of  a  letter  from  an  esteemed  correspondent,  who  was  one 
of  his  hearers  from  an  early  period,  and  is  now  one  of  the  trus- 
tees of  Wells  Street  congregation  : — 

"  I  may  truly  say,  and  ought  gratefully  to  feel,  that  I  have  been 
the  ward  of  Providence  ;  and  in  no  circumstance  has  this  been 
more  apparent  to  my  mind,  than  in  my  having  been,  at  an 
early  period  of  my  life,  brought  under  the  ministry  of  Dr. 
Waugh.  It  would,  indeed,  be  difficult  for  any  person,  not  similar- 
ly situated,  duly  to  estimate  the  benefit  accruing  from  the  in- 
structive advice  and  the  high-toned  and  animating  example  of 
such  a  teacher,  to  an  inexperienced  youth,  far  from  a  father's 
house,  and  thrown  as  a  stranger  amidst  the  vast  population  and 
numberless  temptations  of  such  a  place  as  London.  I  may  thank- 
fully say,  that  whatever  may  attach  to  my  matured  character,  of 
correctness  in  conduct  as  a  member  of  civil  society,  of  integrity 
as  a  tradesman,  of  filial  affection  as  a  son,  of  filling  with  com- 
petent propriety  the  relative  duties  of  husband,  of  father,  or 
of  friend,  ought  to  be  ascribed,  in  a  paramount  degree,  to  the 
invaluable  instructions  and  guidance  of  my  late  beloved  pastor  and 
friend. 

*  Among  other  means  adopted  for  improving  the  minds  of  the 
rising  generation,  and  beneficially  occupying  their  leisure  hours,  was 
the  institution  of  a  congregational  library  in  Wells  Street,  in  the  se- 
lection of  which  Dr.  Waugh  was  always  consulted. 


156  INSTRUCTION    OF    THE    YOUNG. 

"  The  greater  part  of  his  congregation  was  originally  composed 
of  young  men  from  the  North,  who  had  come  to  London  to  work 
for  their  bread,  and  who,  for  the  most  part,  had  left  their  pa- 
rents in  indigent  circumstances.  On  meeting  them,  either  at 
his  weekly  conference,  or  on  more  private  occasions,  he  used 
first  to  inquire  delicately  and  kindly  as  to  the  health  and  wel- 
fare of  their  relatives  in  Scotland ;  and  would  then  follow  up 
these  inquiries  with  the  strongest  exhortations  to  industry  and  good 
conduct,  and  on  the  imperative  duty  of  avoiding  every  unne- 
cessary expense,  in  order  to  be  enabled  to  render  assistance  to 
their  aged  parents  cr  connections.  I  shall  never  forget  the 
beaming  benevolence  of  his  eye  when  touching  on  these  points. 
He  would  urge  in  words  to  this  effect :  '  O  my  young  friends, 
only  think  what  joy,  what  gratitude  will  fill  the  bosom  of  your 
aged  father  !  think  how  the  tear  of  love  and  affection  will  run 
down  the  furrowed  cheeks  of  your  tender  mother,  when  they  re- 
ceive your  dutiful  communications,  with  a  part  of  your  earnings 
to  assist  them  in  the  rugged  down-hill  of  life!  how  ardent  their 
prayers  to  God  on  your  behalf !  how  grateful  to  Him  for  having 
blessed  them  with  such  a  son!  how  warm,  how  heartfelt  their 
supplications,  that  the  blessing  of  God  may  be  on  the  head  of  their 
Joseph,  and  on  the  crown  of  the  head  of  him  that  is  separate 
from  his  brethren !'  How  many  aged  fathers  or  widowed  moth- 
ers have  been  cheered  in  their  solitude,  how  many  orphan 
children  have  benefited,  by  such  admonitions  to  young  and  sus- 
ceptible hearts;  what  incalculable  good  has  resulted  to  the  giv- 
ers, what  benefit  to  society  by  influential  exhortations  of  this  na- 
ture for  nearly  forty-six  years,  it  is  impossible  to  estimate.  My 
heart  throbs  with  gratitude  at  the  remembrance  of  such  admo- 
nitions, and  the  good  effects  produced  by  them  on  my  own 
mind, " 

On  the  first  Monday  in  the  year  he  met  the  unmarried 
young  women  of  his  church  in  the  vestry,  where  they  took 
tea  with  him,  and  spent  an  hour  or  two  in  conversation. 
This  he  did  that  he  might  have  the  pleasure  of  knowing 
something  more  of  them,  and  that  they  might  know  more  of 
their  minister  than  simply  by  hearing  him  from  the  pulpit. 
For  these  attentions  to  the  young  of  his  charge,  he  was  great- 
ly rewarded  by  the  love  and  respect  they  evinced  towards  him. 


VISITATION    OF    THE    SICK.  157 

They  not  only  looked  up  to  him  with  veneration  as  their  pastor, 
but  with  the  confidence  and  affection  of  children. 

He  was  indefatigable  in  visiting:  the  sick;  and  as  his  congre- 
gation  was  scattered  through  almost  every  part  of  London,  this 
duty  was  most  laborious.  "His  fir3t  inquiry  on  a  Sabbath 
evening,"  says  one  of  his  daughters,  "if  he  had  not  been 
preaching  in  his  own  chapel,  was — '  Has  anybody  been  prayed 
for  V  'Yes,  such  a  person.'  *  I'll  see  him  in  the  morning, 
poor  good  man,'  he  would  reply.  And  no  distance,  so  long  as 
ho  was  able  to  undergo  fatigue,  could  detain  him  from  this 
labor  of  love,  which  he  was  wont  to  perform  with  the  wisdom, 
tenderness  of  affection,  and  sympathy,  that  so  eminently  dis- 
tinguished him." 

A  young  clergyman  of  the  church  of  England,  who  was 
brought  up  early  in  life  under  his  ministry,  thus  writes  to  one 
of  the  family  : — "  The  late  Rev.  R.  Cecil,  in  his  last  illness,  is 
known  to  have  acknowledged  that  his  mind  was  more  sensibly 
benefited  by  the  approaches  of  your  father  to  the  Throne  of 
Grace  with  him  and  for  him,  than  by  the  prayers  of  any  of  his 
other  numerous  and  excellent  clerical  friends." 

The  preceding  details  will  have  enabled  the  reader  to  form 
a  competent  judgment  as  to  the  success  of  his  ministry  in 
Wells  Street,  and  his  habitual  mode  of  strengthening  the  effect 
of  his  ordinary  pulpit  discourses  by  means  of  communion  and 
other  special  addresses,  by  pastoral  visitation,  and  by  personal 
intercourse  with  all  classes  of  his  hearers.  We  need  not, 
therefore,  farther  expatiate  upon  the  general  prosperity  of  that 
congregation  whilst  under  his  charge — on  the  Christian  peace 
and  unity  for  which  they  were  so  long  and  happily  distinguish- 
ed—  on  their  liberality  to  their  brethren  and  to  their  minister — 
nor  on  the  mutual  regard  which  had  grown  up  between 
them,  and  ripened  into  that  devoted  attachment  which  death 
only  could  interrupt.  On  all  these,  and  other  kindred 
topics,  the  facts  and  documents  given  in  the  course  of  this 
chapter  may,  without  farther  comment,  be  left  to  speak  for 
themselves. 

There  is,  however,  one  feature  in  his  conduct,  to  which,  we 


158  CHRISTIAN    LIBERALITY. 

think,  may  be  fairly  traced  much  of  the  good-will  and  affec- 
tionate sympathy  that  ever  existed  between  him  and  his  people. 
We  refer  to  the  fact,  the  statement  of  which  is  imperiously 
demanded  by  justice  to  his  character,  that  never  did  a  minister 
of  Christ  keep  himself  more  apart  from  all  interference  in  the 
secular  concerns  of  a  congregation  than  did  Dr.  Waugh.  The 
high  estimate  he  had  formed  of  the  office  of  the  Christian 
ministry,  and  the  naturally  high-toned  independence  of  his 
mind — these  were  never  more  prominently  manifested  than 
whenever  he  was  tempted  to  connect  himself  in  any  degree 
with  those  purely  secular  matters  of  his  congregation,  from 
which  the  Christian  minister  will,  of  all  classes  of  men,  find 
it  most  difficult  to  extricate  himself  with  his  influence  unim- 
paired and  his  honor  untarnished.  But  though  we  see  not 
Dr.  Waugh  "sitting  at  the  receipt  of  custom,"  it  is  due  to  the 
managers  of  his  congregation  to  state,  that,  under  their  sole 
directions,  his  people  ever  did  more  for  the  promotion  of  his 
temporal  prosperity  than  probably  they  would  have  been  in- 
clined to  do,  had  the  amount  of  their  exertions  in  this  respect 
been  at  all  under  his  control. 

"Though  by  education,  choice,  and  relative  connection," 
says  one  of  his  Independent  brethren,  "  he  ranked  as  a  Pres- 
byterian, and  never  once  in  private  gave  the  lie  to  his  firm 
and  conscientious  belief;  yet  he  was  a  sincere  lover  of  all 
good  men,  and  did  the  utmost  in  his  power  to  induce  them 
to  love  one  another  with  a  pure  heart  fervently ;  believing, 
as  he  firmly  did,  that  true  Christians  are  much  more  essentially 
united  than  they  can  by  possibility  be  divided  from  each 
other." 

"  AYhile  he  remained,"  says  another  of  his  brethren  of  the 
same  communion,  "  attached  to  the  peculiarities  of  the  religious 
body  of  which  he  was  a  member,  he  held  his  principles  as  a 
Presbyterian  without  a  particle  of  bigotry.  The  liberality  of 
his  sentiments,  and  the  excellence  of  his  spirit,  gave  him  an 
influence  among  those  who  differed  from  him  on  minor  points, 
equal  to  that  which  he  enjoyed  in  the  churches  of  his  own 
denomination." 


AID  TO  WIDOWS  OF  SCOTCH  MINISTERS.  159 

These  sentiments  are  equally  honorable  to  the  persons  by 
whom  they  are  expressed,  as  to  him  who  is  the  subject  of  them. 
Thus,  while  he  cordially  loved  his  brethren,  though  of  a  dif- 
ferent communion,  as  faithful  servants  of  the  same  Master,  and 
"  fellow-heirs  of  the  grace  of  life,"  so  they  loved  him  in 
return,  "  not  in  tongue,  neither  in  word,  but  in  deed  and  in 
truth." 

It  is  due  nlike  to  that  very  respectable  body  of  Christians, 
the  Independents  of  England,  and  to  the  subject  of  this  memoir, 
not  to  omit  in  our  review  of  Dr.  Waugh's  public  duties,  the 
active  and  heartfelt  interest  which  he  ever  evinced  in  the  suc- 
cess of  the  Evangelical  Magazine,  to  which  he  was  one  of  the 
earliest  contributors,  and  the  great  satisfaction  afforded  him  by 
the  liberal  principles  which  regulate  the  application  of  its  funds. 
"  To  him  was  confided,  in  a  great  degree,"  says  the  late  worthy 
conductor  of  the  Evangelical  Magazine,  "  the  duty  of  attend- 
ing to  the  memorials  of  the  widows  of  Scotch  ministers ;" 
and  how  modestly,  yet  how  warmly  and  successfully  he 
pleaded  their  cause,  the  very  handsome  portion  of  the  funds 
awarded  in  Scotch  cases  abundantly  proves.  It  is  the  testi- 
mony borne  by  his  family,  that  on  going  into  his  study 
when  he  was  occupied  in  folding  up  and  directing  these  several 
benefactions,  they  have  seen  him  wipe  hastily  from  his  eye 
the  tear  that  told  how  sincere  were  his  grateful  acknowledg- 
ments to  "  these  good  men  ;"  and  have  heard  him  declare, 
in  tones  of  joy  and  humility,  that  the  hours  so  occupied  in  the 
cause  of  "his  poor  widows"  were  amongst  the  happiest  of  his 
long  life. 

He  often  lamented  that  his  brethren  in  the  North  did  not 
contribute  their  literary  aid  as  freely  as  he  wished ;  nor  duly 
considered,  as  he  thought,  the  valuable  assistance  which  the 
Scotch  widows  derived  from  the  profits  of  this  work — an  assist- 
ance most  liberally  disproportioned  to  their  claims.  In  palliation, 
however,  we  must  state,  that  while  the  ministers  of  the  Seces- 
sion have  been  blamable  in  not  duly  contributing  to  the  sup- 
port of  this  magazine,  they  are  not  insensible  to  the  kindness 
shown  to  their  widows  in  the  ministration  of  its  funds.     Many 


160  BLESSED    ANTICIPATIONS. 

of  them  feel  deep  gratitude  to  their  Independent  brethren  for 
such  honorable  and  distinguished  liberality. 

In  concluding  this  chapter,  the  compiler  of  these  papers  feels 
it  alike  his  privilege  as  his  duty  to  record  his  personal  obliga- 
tions to  several  excellent  ministers  of  the  Independent  com- 
munion, who,  in  evidence  of  the  sincerity  of  that  respect  and 
love  which  they  professed  to  the  subject  of  this  memoir  while 
he  lived,  have  strenuously  labored,  by  their  valuable  communi- 
cations, to  embalm  his  memory  when  he  is  no  more.  Amidst 
the  mournful  bereavements  of  revered  relatives  and  beloved 
friends,  with  whom  we  took  sweet  counsel  and  went  to  the 
house  of  God  in  company,  let  us  look  upward  to  the  abodes 
of  everlasting  light,  and  purity,  and  love,  into  which  they  have 
entered ;  and  let  us  cherish  the  heart-gladdening  anticipation, 
that  we  too,  through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  shall  make  our 
escape  from  all  the  ills  and  sorrows  of  this  chequered  life,  and 
ascend  to  the  presence  of  their  Father  and  our  Father,  of  their 
God  and  our  God. 

"  Sad  pilgrim  of  Zion,  though  chastened  awhile 
Through  this  dark  vale  of  tears,  Hope  still  bids  thee  smile  : 
Far  spent  is  the  night — see  approaching  the  day 
That  calls  thee  from  sorrow  and  sighing  away. 

*  No  tear  of  repentance,  nor  wave  of  the  storm, 
Not  a  cloud  shall  e'er  darken  the  light  of  that  morn, 
When  thy  sun  sets  no  more,  but  forever  shall  shine 
Unsullied  in  beauty,  in  glory  divine." 


CHAPTER  III. 

DR.  WAUGH'S   CONNECTION  WITH    PUBLIC  INSTITUTIONS. 

Remarks  on  associations  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel.  Dr.  Bogue's 
appeal.  Co-operation  of  Dr.  Waugh  in  establishing  the  London 
Missionary  Society.  His  sermon  on  the  second  anniversary  of 
that  institution.  Notices  of  its  proceedings,  from  his  correspon- 
dence. Journal  of  his  tour  to  Paris  in  1802.  Missionary  tours  to 
various  parts  of  England  and  Ireland;  letters.  Interview  with  the 
Synod  of  Ulster.  Letters  from  Rev.  Dr.  Baird  Tours  in  Scot- 
land in  1815  and  1819;  letters.  Circular  letter  to  hrethren  in 
Scotland.  Addresses  to  Missionaries.  Sketch  of  his  character  as  a 
director  and  associate  laborer  of  the  Missionary  Society.  Connec- 
tion with  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  Speech  at  the 
formation  of  an  auxiliary  association.  His  support  of  the  Scottish 
Hospital,  and  of  other  philanthropic  and  charitable  institutions. 
Anecdotes. 

It  has  been  justly  observed  by  Mr.  Doug-las,  on  voluntary 
associations  of  good  men  for  advancing-  the  kingdom  of  Christ, 
"  Tli at  there  is.  no  object  to  which  this  power  cannot  adapt 
itself,  no  resources  which  it  may  not  ultimately  command ; 
and  that  a  few  individuals,  if  the  public  mind  be  gradually 
prepared  to  favor  them,  can  lay  the  foundations  of  under- 
takings which  would  have  baffled  the  might  of  those  who  reared 
the  Pyramids."  u  The  times"  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir 
are  intimately  connected  with  the  great  transactions  of  the 
last  forty  years, — a  period  in  which  the  power  of  voluntary 
associations  for  promoting  the  kingdom  of  Christ  has  been 
remarkably  exemplified,  and  carried  to  a  higher  pitch,  and 
applied  to  more  important  objects,  than  had  ever  been  contem- 
plated at  any  former  period.  This  power  has  produced  effects 
which,  while  they  astonish   the  mind,  prepare  it  for  greater 

fl.inn-s  tO  COlllo. 


162  REVIVAL    OP    RELIGION    IN    ENGLAND. 

The  revival  of  religion  in  England,  in  the  early  part  of  last 
century,  commenced  among  ministers  and  members  of  the 
Episcopal  Church ;  a  powerful  "  shaking  among  the  dry 
bones"  having  been  occasioned  by  the  zealous  labors  of 
Whitfield,  Wesley,  Romaioe,  Hervey,  Toplady,  and  their 
associates,  whose  preaching  and  writings  have  been  followed 
by  most  important  and  beneficial  effects  on  multitudes  of  the 
clergy  and  laity  both  in  and  out  of  the  establishment.  About 
forty  years  ago,  the  evangelical  Dissenters  began  to  form  vol- 
untary associations  for  spreading  the  Gospel  in  almost  every 
county  of  England ;  and  about  the  same  time,  the  institution 
of  Sunday  schools,  at  once  simple  and  original,  united  good 
men  of  all  denominations  in  those  exertions  for  promoting 
education  among  the  poor,  which  have  been  followed  with 
such  blessed  consequences  to  their  best  and  highest  interests. 
In  the  year  1*793,  a  body  of  Christian  ministers,  composed 
of  Episcopalians,  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  Independents,  and 
Methodists  of  Mr.  Vvhitfield's  connection,  without  compro- 
mising their  peculiar  principles,  formed  themselves  into  an 
association  as  directors  of  a  religious  periodical  publication 
for  the  advancement  of  those  scriptural  truths  which  they  all 
cordially  believed.  In  the  "Evangelical  Magazine,"  thus  con- 
stituted, Mr.  Waugh  took  an  early  and  a  deep  interest,  and 
contributed  to  it  many  valuable  papers.  This  work,  which 
from  its  commencement  excited  a  very  considerable  degree  of 
interest,  had  scarcely  existed  a  year,  when  one  of  its  original 
supporters,  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Bogue,  of  Gosport,  by  an  essay 
published  in  September,  1794,  made  a  most  energetic  appeal, 
especially  to  the  evangelical  Dissenters,  in  behalf  of  those 
idolatrous  and  perishing  heathen  nations  who  wrere  living 
without  God  and  without  hope.  The  following  paragraph  will 
serve  to  show  the  forcible  language  in  which  this  appeal  was 
made : — 

"Ye  were  once  pagans,  living  in  cruel  and  abominable 
idolatry.  The  servants  of  Jesus  came  from  other  lands  and 
preached  his  Gospel  unto  you :  hence  your  knowledge  of  sal- 
vation.    And  ought  not  ye,  as  an  equitable  compensation  for 


APPEAL  FOR  THE  HEATHEN.  1G3 

their  kindness,  to  send  messengers  to  the  nations  which  are  in 
like  condition  to  yourselves  of  old,  to  entreat  them  that  they 
turn  from  dumb  idols  to  serve  the  living  God,  and  to  wait  for 
his  Son  from  heaven  ?  Verily,  their  debtors  ye  are.  But  it 
may  be  asked,  why  are  we  in  particular  called  on  to  exert  our- 
selves in  this  work?  Will  it  satisfy  you  if  I  answer  that  I  am 
one  of  you,  and  think  myself  on  this  account  obliged  to  speak 
more  immediately  to  you?  A  connection  with  a  society  or 
denomination  of  Christians  should  certainly  influence  us  to 
seek  the  welfare  of  that  society,  and  authorize  us  to  invite  its 
members  to  discharge  the  duties  incumbent  on  them.  Besides, 
all  other  bodies  of  professing  Christians  have  done,  and  are 
doing,  something  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen.  The 
labors  of  the  Church  of  Borne  have  been  far  more  abundant 
than  those  of  all  other  sects  whatever :  O  that  they  had  con- 
veyed Christianity  pure  to  the  blinded  Pagans !  The  Church 
of  England  has  a  society  of  considerable  standing  for  the  prop- 
agation of  the  Gospel.  The  Kirk  of  Scotland  supports  a 
similar  institution.  The  Moravian  Brethren  have,  if  we  consider 
their  numbers  and  their  substance,  excelled  in  this  respect  the 
whole  Christian  world.  Of  late  the  Methodists  have  exerted 
themselves  with  commendable  zeal.  An  association  is  just 
formed  by  the  Baptists  for  this  benevolent  purpose,  and  their 
first  missionaries  have  already  entered  on  the  work.  We  alone 
are  idle.  There  is  not  a  body  of  Christians  in  the  country, 
except  ourselves,  but  have  put  their  hand  to  the  plough.  We 
alone,  and  it  must  be  spoken  to  our  shame,  have  not  sent 
messengers  to  the  heathen  to  proclaim  the  riches  of  redeeming 
love.  It  is  surely  full  time  that  we  had  begun.  We  are  able. 
Our  number  is  great.  The  wealth  of  many  thousands  of  in- 
dividuals is  considerable.  I  am  confident  that  very  many 
among  us  are  willing,  nay,  desirous,  to  see  such  a  work  set  on 
foot,  and  will  contribute  liberally  of  their  substance  for  its  sup- 
port. Nothing  is  wanting  but  for  some  persons  to  stand  for- 
ward and  to  begin." 

This  very  spirited  address,  and  another  publication  on  mis- 
sions about  the  same  time,  by  the  Rev.  Melville  Home,  pro- 


164  RISE    OF    THE    LONDON    MISSIONARY    SOCIETY. 

duced  a  powerful  effect  on  the  public  mind  among  Christians 
of  every  denomination.  During  the  first  months  of  1795, 
the  subject  of  this  memoir,  with  various  others  of  the  evan- 
gelical ministers  in  London,  held  frequent  meetings  for  con- 
ference and  prayer ;  and  it  was  at  last  resolved  to  invite  the 
leading  ministers  in  the  several  counties  of  the  kingdom  to 
co-operate.  In  the  month  of  July,  1*795,  it  was  announced 
in  the  "Evangelical  Magazine,"  that  a  meeting  would  bo 
held  in  London,  in  September,  for  the  formation  of  a  Mission- 
ary Society.  A  numerous  meeting  was  accordingly  held  at 
Spa  Fields  chapel,  on  the  2 2d  of  September,  including  about 
two  hundred  ministers  of  different  denominations;  when  Mr. 
Haweis,  rector  of  Aid  winkle,  preached  on  Mark  xvi.  15, — 
"  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every 
creature."  After  the  service  the  meeting  agreed  to  form 
themselves  into  a  Missionary  Society ;  and  a  committee,  con- 
sisting of  Messrs.  Bogue,  Eyre,  Greatheed,  Haweis,  Hey,  Hill, 
Kingsbury,  Lambert,  Love,  Reynolds,  Lathon,  Steven,  and 
Waugh,  were  appointed  to  bring  forward  the  plan  of  the  new 
society. 

The  Scotch  Presbyterian  churches  in  London  were  not 
backward  in  the  formation  of  this  union.  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Henry  Hunter,  the  Rev.  John  Love,  the  Rev.  James  Steven, 
and  the  Rev.  Alexander  Waugh,  appeared,  if  it  may  be  so 
expressed,  as  the  representatives  of  their  country.  Of  Dr. 
Hunter,  nothing  need  be  said, — his  works  praise  him  in  the 
gate.  The  Rev.  John  Love  (afterwards  the  foreign  secretary 
of  the  Missionary  Society)  was  a  man  less  known — of  deep  and 
various  learning — of  eminently  exalted  piety.  With  a  dove- 
like simplicity,  he  possessed  one  of  the  kindest  hearts  that  ever 
warmed  a  human  bosom.  But  his  habits  of  thinking  rendered 
his  style  deficient  in  perspicuity ;  and  his  address  as  a  preacher 
was  slow,  and  not  attractive  to  a  London  audience.  Hence  the 
man  who  was  qualified  by  his  learning,  wisdom,  and  piety, 
to  enlighten  the  metropolis,  was  restricted  to  a  small  congre- 
gation in  an  obscure  chapel,  until  he  was  afterwards  called 
to  the  exercise  of  his  ministry  in  his  native  land,  among  per- 


RISE    OF    THE    LONDON    MISSIONARY    SOCIETY.  105 

sons  more  ready,  and  perhaps  more  competent  to  appreciate 

his  worth.  The  lvev.  James  Steven  was  a  man  of  highly  re- 
spectable attainments  as  a  scholar  and  as  a  divine,  and  was  a 
popular  preacher.  The  Rev.  A.  Waugh  was  the  youngest, 
and  (after  Dr.  llunter)  by  far  the  most  attractive  man.  The 
following  account  of  his  appearance  at  that  period  is  commu- 
nicated by  a  reverend  friend  of  a  different  religious  connection, 
but  a  zealous  coadjutor  in  the  same  noble  field : — "  I  first 
saw  him  on  the  morning  when  this  society  was  formed,  at 
Spa  Fields  chapel.  lie  was  then  in  the  vigor  of  manhood : 
his  figure  was  tall  and  well  proportioned ;  his  countenance 
was  benignant  and  majestic,  and  yet  retaining  the  glow  of 
youth ;  his  bushy  locks  mantled  his  athletic  shoulders ;  his 
large  dark  eyes  beamed  with  poetic  fire ;  his  mind  bore  the 
fruits  of  a  ten  years'  abode  in  the  academic  groves  of  his  na- 
tive land,  while  it  was  still  richer  in  theological  and  biblical 
stores." — Such  were  the  leading  members  of  this  voluntary 
association  for  advancing  the  kingdom  of  Christ  among  the 
heathen. 

It  is  worthy  of  commemoration,  that  Dr.  Waugh  always 
reflected  with  great  pleasure  on  having  had  the  honor  to  be 
the  framer  of  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society, — a  principle  which  has  been  of  such  vital 
importance  to  its  great  harmony  and  extensive  usefulness,  by 
including  all  parties  of  Christians  in  its  constitution,  and  ex- 
pressly excluding  the  propagation  of  all  party  tenets.  This 
resolution,  which  is  preserved  in  the  records  of  the  society  in 
his  own  hand-writing,  is  as  follows  : — 

"As  the  union  of  God's  people  of  various  denominations, 
in  carrying  on  this  great  work,  is  a  most  desirable  object ; 
so,  to  prevent,  if  possible,  any  cause  of  future  dissension,  it 
is  declared  to  be  a  fundamental  principle  of  the  Missionary 
Society,  that  our  design  is  not  to  send  Presbyterianism,  In- 
dependency, Episcopacy,  or  any  other  form  of  church  order 
and  government  (about  which  there  may  be  a  difference  of 
opinion  among  serious  persons),  but  the  glorious  Gospel  of 
the   blessed  God,  to  the  heathen  ;  and  it  shall   be  left  (as  it 


166  RISE    OF    THE    LONDON    MISSIONARY    SOCIETY. 

ought  to  be  left)  to  the  minds  of  the  persons  whom  God  may 
call  into  the  fellowship  of  his  Son  from  among  them,  to  assume 
for  themselves  such  form  of  church  government  as  to  them 
shall  appear  most  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God." 

The  following  observations  are  communicated  by  a  much- 
respected  fellow-laborer  in  the  same  cause  : — "  To  a  society  so 
constituted,  Mr.  Waugh  gave  himself  not  by  halves,  but  en- 
tirely and  forever.  It  grew  into  all  the  height  of  his  mental 
and  moral  nature ;  it  enlarged  and  filled  and  elevated  his  soul 
to  the  latest  hour  of  his  life.  Time  would  fail  to  tell  the  deep 
interest  which  he  took  in  all  its  concerns ;  in  its  earlier  corres- 
pondence at  home  and  abroad,  to  interest  and  engage  wise 
and  good  men  in  its  behalf;  in  defending  it  from  the  misrep- 
resentations and  calumnies  of  its  opponents ;  in  journeying 
often  to  replenish  its  funds,  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland ; 
in  sermons  preached  on  public  occasions  ;  and  in  charges  to 
missionaries  at  their  solemn  designation  to  their  office.  It  is 
indeed  to  be  regretted,  that  so  few  specimens  remain  to  inform 
those  who  knew  him  not,  how  deeply  its  interests  engaged  his 
heart." 

The  rise  of  the  Missionary  Society  he  justly  deemed  a  new 
era  in  the  history  of  the  church.  Such  an  ardent  and  exten- 
sive zeal  for  the  conversion  of  heathen  nations  to  the  faith  of 
the  Gospel,  accompanied  with  the  cordial  co-operation  of  reli- 
gious persons  of  every  communion,  had  not  appeared  since 
the  first  ages  of  Christianity.  From  the  commencement  of 
this  institution,  he  felt  a  deep  and  warm  interest  in  its  suc- 
cess;  and  never  were  the  energies  of  his  mind  or  the  affec- 
tions of  his  heart  so  fully  called  into  exercise  as  when  plead- 
ing the  cause  of  the  Missionary  Society,  or  when  laboring 
to  extend  its  influence  and  increase  the  number  of  its  friends. 
He  always  spoke  of  himself  as  a  debtor  to  this  society  for  the 
high  sphere  of  usefulness  it  opened  to  his  exertions,  for  the 
many  valuable  friendships  of  great  and  good  men  to  which  it 
admitted  him,  and  for  the  distinguished  respect  in  which  he 
was  held  by  the  religious  public,  which,  with  his  character- 
istic  modesty,  he   was   ever   ready  to   acknowledge  was    far 


ANNIVERSARY    SERMON.  1G7 

above  bis  desert.  Prior  to  the  rise  of  tbe  Missionary  Society 
be  was  little  known  beyond  the  circle  of  his  own  religious 
connections ;  and,  like  many  other  good  men,  might  have 
lived  and  died  without  attracting  public  notice  for  eminent 
usefulness,  had  he  not  come  in  contact  with  an  object  pe- 
culiarly calculated  to  excite  to  the  utmost  exertion  the  ener- 
gies of  a  mind  constituted  like  his.  His  connection  with  this 
institution  will  transmit  his  name  to  posterity  among  the 
friends  and  benefactors  of  the  human  race,  who  will  be  grate- 
fully remembered  in  future  ages  for  their  labors  and  their 
zeal  in  diffusing  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  arts 
of  civilized  life,  among  the  rude  and  barbarous  nations  of  the 
earth. 

On  occasion  of  the  second  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Society,  he  preached  at  the  Tabernacle,  May  10,  1797, 
from  Philippians  ii.  14-16:  "Do  all  things  without  murmur- 
ings  and  disputing*;  that  ye  may  be  blameless  and  harmless, 
the  sons  of  God  without  rebuke,  in  the  midst  of  a  crooked  and 
perverse  nation,  among  whom  ye  shine  as  lights  in  the  world ; 
holding  forth  the  word  of  life." 

"Christians,"  he  observes,  "are  lights  in  the  world,  in 
the  midst  of  a  crooked  and  perverse  nation.  The  original 
word  rendered  '  lights,'  it  is  supposed  by  Saurin,  is  borrowed 
from  the  celebrated  tower  built  at  the  mouth  of  the  Nile,  on 
which  a  bright  flame  was  kept  constantly  burning  during 
the  night,  for  the  guidance  of  ships  as  they  entered  the  har- 
bor of  Alexandria.  Human  life  is  likened  to  the  navigation 
of  a  boisterous  sea:  the  night  is  dark,  the  tempest  of  the  sky 
presses  heavily  on  them,  the  harbor  is  ill  known,  the  entrance, 
narrow  and  difficult.  In  great  compassion  to  the  sons  of 
men,  thus  ready  to  perish,  the  merciful  Father  of  the  human 
race,  the  God  of  salvation,  hath  in  the  Gospel  church  raised 
a  pillar,  and  on  its  summit  enkindled  '  the  shining  of  a  flam- 
ing light,'  the  blaze  of  heavenly  truth,  to  guide  the  endanger- 
ed mariner,  to  preserve  him  from  shipwreck,  to  bring  him 
safely  into  the  harbor  of  celestial  blessedness.  It  should 
ever  be  remembered  that  it  is  the  '  word  of  life'  which  the 


168  ANNIVERSARY    SERMON. 

ministers  of  Christ,  as  elevated  lights  in  the  world,  are  to 
hold  forth  to  men.  It  was  neither  the  conclusions  of  the 
philosophy  of  Greece,  nor  the  interpretations  of  Rabbinical 
erudition,  which  Paul  preached  among  the  Gentiles,  but 
'  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ.'  Neither  is  it  the  decrees 
of  assemblies,  convocations,  or  councils,  that  the  ministers  of 
religion,  as  elevated  lights,  hold  forth  to  the  darkened  world. 
There  may  be  much  truth  in  these ;  but  there  may  be  much 
error  too ;  while  in  the  '  word  of  life'  there  is  no  darkness  at 
all.  The  faith  of  a  Christian  resteth  solely  on  '  the  founda- 
tion of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being 
the  chief  corner-stone.'  Let  not  good  men,  however,  who 
from  conscience  are  attached  to  the  particular  views  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  which  are  given  in  such  decrees  of  unin- 
spired men,  decline  to  associate  with  us  in  '  holding  forth  the 
word  of  life'  to  the  heathen,  as  if  our  design  were  to  confound 
all  distinctions  of  religious  opinion,  or  to  deride  and  insult 
with  names  of  ill  repute  the  honest  scruples  of  a  tender  and 
inquiring  mind.  Art  thou,  my  brother,  inclined  to  approve 
of  that  particular  form  of  church  order  which  is  known  by  the 
name  of  Episcopal,  or  Independent,  or  Presbyterian  ?  We  in- 
vite thee  to  come  and  assist  us  with  thy  countenance,  thy  coun- 
sel, thy  prayers,  and  a  reasonable  measure  of  thy  substance,  while 
we  are  employed  in  sending  the  word  of  life,  the  oracles  of  God, 
to  the  heathen,  and  assuredly  all  the  episcopacy,  all  the  indepen- 
dency, and  all  the  presbyteriauism,  that  he  hath  put  in  them. 
This  '  word  of  life,'  this  good,  this  perfect  gift,  which  hath  come 
down  from  the  father  of  lights,  the  mission  of  this  forms  the 
central,  the  uniting  point  of  all  our  exertions.  Its  immense 
magnitude  arouses  our  zeal ;  and,  by  God's  grace,  will  sustain, 
purify,  and  exalt  it. 

"  But  not  to  the  native  lands  of  her  present  child  ren  ought 
the  church  to  confine  her  efforts  to  illuminate.  The  beams  of 
heavenly  truth  emanated  from  Mount  Zion  to  penetrate  all 
the  ends  of  the  earth.  Looking  abroad  on  the  present  state 
of  the  world,  we  behold  the  shadows  of  the  evening  stretched 
over  Popish  lands; — thick  darkness  envelops  the  regions  of 


ANNIVERSARY    SERMON.  169 

the  Arabian  impostor ; — the  nations  beyond  are  in  the  black- 
ness of  darkness — the  very  light  is  darkness.  Let  the  church 
therefore,  hold  forth,  by  the  long  arm  of  missionary  ministra- 
tions, the  word  of  life  to  them.  They  are  even  ignorant  of 
the  harbor  of  happiness;  but  in  holding  forth  the  word  of 
life  to  them,  they  will  learn  that  in  God's  favor  is  life. 
They  are  utter  strangers  to  the  way  which  leads  to  the  har- 
bor; but  in  the  word  of  life  which  the  church  holds  out 
to  them,  they  will  read  the  sure  testimony  of  the  Son  of  God, 
who  says,  '  I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life ;  no  man 
cometh  to  the  Father  but  by  me ;'  the  testimony  of  his  Spirit 
will  inform  them  that  there  is  no  name  but  that  of  Christ, 
given  under  heaven  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved. 
In  the  midst  of  much  guilt,  on  account  of  the  perpetration 
of  crimes  at  which  the  human  heart  revolts  with  abhorrence, 
they  are  strangers  to  the  sacrifice  by  which  alone  human 
guilt  is  expiated;  but  by  holding  forth  the  word  of  life  to 
them,  they  will  read  the  glad  tidings  of  propitiation  for  sin, 
in  the  wounds,  tears,  groanings,  agony,  and  death  of  the 
Lamb  of  God,  who  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world,  and 
who  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  all,  to  be  testified  in  due 
time.  While  their  minds  lie  under  the  curse  of  God's  law, 
which  is  the  strength  of  sin,  the  foul,  the  ferocious,  the  conflict- 
ing passions  of  the  corrupt  heart  will  prevail  with  unhallowed 
sway.  Their  souls  will  be  like  the  troubled  sea  when  it 
cannot  rest,  whose  waters  cast  up  mire  and  dirt.  Ardent 
and  scorching  are  the  vertical  suns  which  burn  up  the  deserts 
of  the  land  of  Ham ;  furious  and  desolating  are  their  torna- 
dos ;  fatal  to  human  life  are  their  dipsas,  their  scorpions, 
their  horned  cerastes :  but  more  scorching  to  the  soul,  and 
consuming  of  their  happiness, — more  desolating  of  social  or- 
der and  joy, — more  poisonous  to  their  peace, — are  jealousy, 
rage,  revenge,  unbridled  lust,  and  the  other  unsubdued  tem- 
pers of  the  depraved  mind,  the  fires  of  which,  enkindled  of 
hell,  are  fanned  by  their  climate  and  the  forms  of  their  gov- 
ernment. To  them,  therefore,  let  the  church  'hold  forth 
the  word  of  lite,'  in  which  they  will  find,  that  in  the  new  cov- 

8 


170  ANNIVERSARY    SERMON. 

enant  provision  is  made  for  the  introduction  of  the  reign  of 
holiness  and  peace,  of  righteous  manners,  and  the  gentleness 
of  Christ, — the  blessed  age  in  which  instead  of  the  thorn 
shall  come  up  the  fir-tree,  and  instead  of  the  brier  shall  come 
up  the  myrtle-tree, — the  blessed  age  in  which  men  shall  not 
hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  God's  holy  mountain,  the  earth  being 
full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  as  the  waters  cover  the 
sea. 

"  Nor  let  us  dare  to  entertain  an  idea  so  reproachful  to  the 
state  of  religion  in  the  Christian  church,  as  to  suspect  that 
there  will  be  wanting  men,  enlightened,  compassionate,  and 
courageous,  to  hold  forth  by  their  personal  ministrations  this 
word  of  life  to  the  heathen.  Our  cup  of  spiritual  privileges 
and  benefits  runneth  over,  and  shall  not  our  thirsty  African 
brother  be  permitted  to  drink  with  us?  Doth  not  the  con- 
dition of  their  souls  cast  a  wishful,  earnest  look  towards  this 
illumined  land,  and  in  the  look  convey  the  pathetic  desire, — 
1 0  that  one  would  give  us  to  drink  of  that  water  of  the  well 
of  Bethlehem  V  And  shall  there  be  found  in  all  the  garrison 
of  the  circumcised,  no  man  of  mighty  mind,  strong  in  the 
Lord,  to  break  through  the  host  of  real  or  imaginary  dan- 
gers, and  carry  the  living  waters  to  their  parched  lips  ?  Have 
we  ourselves  obtained  peace  through  the  blood  of  the  cross, 
and  purity  through  the  washing  of  regeneration,  and  can  we 
see  the  anguish  of  their  souls,  and  not  hasten  to  them  with 
relief?  Shall  myriads  of  these  sons  of  the  stranger  perish  in 
their  sins,  without  one  effort  on  our  part  to  save  them  ?  O 
for  large  measures  of  the  spirit  of  the  Apostle  Paul!  The 
love  of  Christ,  said  he,  constrains  me ;  it  bears  me  away  be- 
fore it.  The  love  of  ease  and  of  honor  from  men  would 
have  kept  him  at  ignoble  anchorage  all  his  life  in  Jerusalem ; 
but  at  the  call  of  his  Saviour,  all  the  faculties  of  his  great 
mind  were  unfurled;  and  the  love  of  his  Redeemer,  who 
bought  him  with  his  blood,  filling  those  faculties,  bare  him 
away  far,  far  from  home,  among  the  Gentiles,  to  encounter 
every  storm,  richly  laden  with  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel  of 
peace. 


ANXIVmiSAUV    SERMON.  1*71 

"But  it*  we  would  'hold  forth  the  word  of  lift;,'  either  in 
our  public  ministrations  at  home,  or  in  our  missionary  efforts 
abroad,  consistently,  gracefully,  and,  by  God's  blessing,  effect- 
ually, we  ourselves  must  be  irradiated,  our  personal  deport- 
ment beautified  with  holiness  and  peace.  It  is  in  the  highest 
measure  desirable,  that  while  we  recommend  the  Gospel  to 
others  as  the  instrument  of  transforming  the  heart  and  intro- 
ducing peace  among  men,  our  own  hearts  should  have  felt 
that  transforming  power,  and  we  ourselves  be  the  sons  of 
peace.  'Do  all  things  without  murmurings  and  disputings,' 
and  thereby  approve  yourselves  to  be  'blameless  and  harm- 
less, the  sons  of  God  without  rebuke.'  'Murmurings  and 
disputings  are  the  foul  risings  of  the  discontented,  restless, 
and  factious  mind,  either  against  the  government  of  God  or 
the  wise  and  upright  conduct  of  men.  These  are  ulcers, 
which  corrode  the  heart,  and  wrhich  make  the  breath  offen- 
sive as  an  open  sepulchre.  The  seeds  of  murmurings  and 
disputings  are  sown  in  our  very  nature.  'Do  ye  think 
that  the  Scripture  saith  in  vain,  The  spirit  that  dwelleth  in 
us  lusteth  to  envy  V  Envy  at  a  brother's  talents,  at  his  ac- 
ceptance in  the  churches,  at  his  distinguished  zeal  and  suc- 
cess in  any  good  work,  will  nourish  this  murmuring  and  fac- 
tious temper.  '  Now,  where  envy  and  strife  is,  there  is  con- 
fusion and  every  evil  work.'  Vanity,  or  the  lust  of  being 
noticed,  will  create  inward  jealousy  of  being  overlooked  and 
not  duly  honored;  of  our  importance  being  sunk,  and  our 
assistance  not  courted ; — hence  also  murmurings  and  disput- 
ings. The  lust  of  being  uppermost,  disturbed  even  the  fam- 
ily of  the  meek  and  lowly  Redeemer,  and  introduced  mur- 
murings and  disputings :  '  There  arose,'  saith  the  historian, 
1  a  reasoning  or  disputing  among  them,  which  of  them  should 
be  greatest.'  Undue  attachment  to  matters  less  clearly  re- 
vealed, or  in  their  nature  of  smaller  importance,  leads  the 
mind  of  the  weak  and  the  intemperate  to  murmurings  and 
disputings.  It  may  possibly  be  a  device  of  Satan,  at  this 
time,  to  fan  the  flame  of  unscriptural  zeal  for  the  tithing  of 
mint,  cummin,  and   anise,   that    by   dividing  our  hearts    and 


172 


ANNIVERSARY    SERMON. 


weakening  our  exertions  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law 
may  not  be  sent  to  the  heathen.  'Do  all  things  without 
murmurings  and  disputings  :'  ask  of  God,  from  whom  com- 
eth  down  every  good  and  perfect  gift ;  cultivate  in  your  own 
minds,  and  exemplify  in  your  conduct,  a  frame  of  spirit 
which  is  placid,  forbearing,  and  peaceful.  These  tempers  will 
impart  dignity  and  lustre  to  any  character ;  they  bring  us  nearer 
to  the  Son  of  God,  who,  with  an  unruffled  mind,  endured  much 
contradiction  against  himself,  and  who  hath  taught  his  minis- 
ters 'that  the  servant  of  the  Lord  must  not  strive,  but  be  gen- 
tle unto  all  men,  patient,  in  meekness  instructing  those  that 
oppose  themselves.'  Now  the  best  security  for  our  vaunted 
union  among  ourselves,  is  our  conformity  in  temper  and  dispo- 
sition to  the  temper  and  disposition  of  the  Son  of  God.  The 
nearer  our  hearts  approach  to  him,  the  more  closely  shall  we 
cleave  to  each  other,  and  the  more  effectually  shall  we  exclude 
those  turbulent  principles  which  would  create  murmurings  and 
disputings  among  us." 

The  subject  of  this  sermon  appears  to  have  been  selected 
in  reference  to  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  society,  which 
we  have  seen  was  framed  by  himself,  and  is  justly  consid- 
ered of  the  first  importance  to  its  prosperity.  He  therefore 
embraced  this  public  occasion  to  guard  the  members  against 
that  jealousy  which  might  have  kindled  an  unhallowed  fire 
in  a  body  formed  of  so  many  classes  of  Christians,  or  dis- 
severed the  bands  of  their  fellowship,  before  they  had  been 
strengthened  by  that  thorough  knowledge  of  each  other's 
characters,  which  is  so  necessary  to  insure  esteem  and  confi- 
dence. His  affectionate  admonitions  to  his  brethren  were 
uniformly  enforced  by  his  own  personal  example,  both  in  the 
committee  and  at  the  public  meetings  of  the  society ;  and 
thus,  by  evincing  on  every  occasion  that  the  chief  object  of 
his  solicitude  was  to  avoid  giving  offence,  and  to  diffuse 
around  him  a  spirit  of  peace  and  conciliation,  in  all  their  dis- 
cussions, he  secured  to  his  opinions  a  weight  of  influence 
which  no  talents  alone,  however  pre-eminent,  could  have  com- 
manded. 


NOTICES    OF    MISSIONARY    PROCEEDINGS.  lV3 

"  It  cannot  be  forgotten,"  says  the  venerable  Mr.  Burder, 
in  a  communication  now  lying  before  us,  "that  Dr.  Waugh 
promoted,  in  the  outset  of  the  Missionary  Society,  that  spirit 
of  Christian  union  by  which  it  has  ever  been  distinguished. 
lie  was  the  person  who  drew  up  its  fundamental  principle, 
and  to  this  principle  he  uniformly  adhered  in  the  whole 
of  his  exertions  on  behalf  of  the  society.  Indeed,  to  his  kind, 
conciliatory  temper,  united  with  the  congenial  spirit  of  Mr. 
Eardcastle,  the  treasurer,  the  society  is  probably  indebted, 
under  the  God  of  peace,  for  the  general  harmony  and  good- 
will which  have  marked  its  whole  progress.  On  all  occasions, 
for  thirty-three  years,  Dr.  Waugh  was  uniformly  '  the  peace- 
maker.' " 

At  this  time  he  was  in  the  habit  of  writing  very  frequently 
to  the  compiler  of  these  papers  ;  and  so  much  was  his  heart 
occupied  about  this  subject,  that  there  is  scarcely  one  of  his 
letters  in  which  he  does  not  advert  to  the  zealous  exertions  of 
the  society  to  promote  the  salvation  of  the  heathen. 


"  Allsops'  Buildings,  Oct.  15,  1796. 

"  The  Missionary  Society  has  occasioned  more  conversation 
about  religion  than  formerly,  and  diverted  people's  minds  from 
the  unprofitable  and  irritatinrr  discussions  of  politics.  The  news 
of  our  proceedings  you  will  see  detailed  with  tolerable  accuracy 
in  our  magazine.  My  time  has  been  greatly  occupied  in  attend- 
ing the  meetings  ;  and  the  continued  lameness  of  my  foot  made 
the  attendance  more  fatiguing.  I  fancy  I  need  not  tell  you  that 
neither  Mr.  Jcrment  nor  myself  sat  down  at  the  Lord's  table  with 
the  directors  and  missionaries  before  the  ship  went  away.  This, 
in  regard  to  myself,  however,  was  not  owing  to  principle,  for  I 
could  join  with  perfect  freedom  in  every  act  of  fellowship  with  the 
Otaheitan  church,  and  in  this  light  the  matter  was  taken  up.  Mr. 
Jerment  assisted  in  the  ordinations,  and  gave  an  excellent  charge 
at  the  last  one. 

"  Our  friends  in  the  south  of  Scotland  have  done  wonders  in  the 
way  of  contributing  to  our  support.  Dr.  Snodgrass  has  sent 
last  week  £20  worth  of  his  sermon.  He  is  our  best  friend  in 
Scotland." 


1*74  NOTICES    OF   MISSIONARY    PROCEEDINGS. 

"  February  22,  1797. 
"  Enclosed  is  Mr.  Hardcastle's  receipt  for  £20  from  your  congre- 
gation. Nothing  new  in  our  Society.  Tell  your  worthy  and  liberal 
people  that  we  feel  very  grateful  for  their  benefaction.  What 
do  you  think  ?  Hr.  Hardcastle  tells  me  that  Scotland  has  sent  us 
more  than  £1500,  of  which  I  am  sure  the  Burgher  Seceders  have 
sent  a  third." 

"  May  17,  1797. 
u  The  God  of  peace  has  preserved  peace,  and  increased  our 
zeal  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Missionary  Society  last  week. 
Mr.  Bogue  of  Gosport  read  a  sensible  memoir  regarding  the  forma- 
tion of  seminaries  for  providing  the  society  with  missionaries. 
Mr.  Cowie  read  a  memoir  on  the  subject  of  a  mission  to  Hindos- 
tan,  particularly  to  the  Malabar  coast,  and  the  countries  that  lie 
contiguous  to  Delhi.  We  had  a  memoir  from  Mr.  Greatheed  on 
promoting  the  knowledge  of  Christ  in  the  British  colonies  in  North 
America,  in  the  province  of  Canada  particularly,  and  in  Newfound- 
land and  the  island  of  St.  John  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  A 
very  solemn  call  was  made  on  Friday  evening  to  the  ministers  pres- 
ent, to  consider  the  propriety  of  some  of  them  devoting  themselves 
to  the  missionary  work.  Messrs.  Bogue,  Haldane,  Greatheed, 
Wilks,  and  others,  spoke  with  much  good  sense  and  warmth  on  the 
business.  You  will  see  an  account  of  it  in  the  annual  report  pre- 
fixed to  the  sermons  of  this  year.  Of  my  sermon  I  can  only  say, 
that  if  my  humility  had  been  greater,  my  anxiety  would  have  been 
less.  May  the  God  of  heaven  make  it  and  my  brethren's  useful, 
and  then  all  is  well." 

"  December  28,  1797. 
"  We  are  sending  out  four  missionaries  to  Jamaica.  We  want 
men  of  good  sense,  some  learning,  of  great  compassion,  and  of  an 
accommodating  disposition.  Men  of  some  standing  will  be  most 
desirable.  We  expect  every  hospitable  attention  from  the  planters, 
at  whose  desire  the  missionaries  are  to  be  sent  over.  The  so- 
ciety allows  £80  a-year  to  each,  and,  if  they  have  wives  and 
children,  will  insure  their  lives,  that  there  may  be  a  respectable 
support,  in  case  of  death,  to  the  widows  and  orphans.  I  wish 
you  would  mention  it  to  the  members  of  Presbytery,  and  look 
around  for  some  proper  persons,  if  they  can  be  found  in  our  con- 
nection.    I  have  written  to  Mr.  Lawson  to  the  same  purpose.      I 


NOTICES    OF    MISSIONARY    PROCEEDINGS.  175 

would  fain  hope,  that  while  so  fair  an  opportunity  offers  of  doing 
good  among  350,000  poor  Africans,  the  opportunity  will  not  bo 
slighted  on  every  side.  We  are  almost  as  far  from  the  apostles 
of  Jesus  Christ  in  fervor  of  spirit  as  we  are  in  distance  of  time, 
or  multitudes  would  have  offered  themselves  to  the  Lord  long 
ago." 

"  October  27,  1798. 
"Mr.  Thomas  Robson  is  appointed  to  the  command  of  the 
Duff.  We  expect  her  to  sail  in  a  month.  The  Directors  have 
been  looking  out  for  a  minister  to  superintend  the  establishment 
of  (he  missionaries,  and  to  return  with  the  Duff.  Mr.  Bogue  has 
declined,  as  he  has  not  yet  given  up  thoughts  of  the  Bengal  busi- 
ness. Suppose  I  should  apply  to  the  Presbytery  for  leave  to  go  ? 
I  have  been  speaking  of  it  to  Mrs.  Waugh,  but  she  seems  to 
be  sadly  scrimp  of  both  faith  and  zeal  for  the  trip  round  the 
world." 

"  July  17,  1799. 

"  On  Monday  we  had  letters  from  Dr.  Vanderkemp,  and  the 
other  missionaries  at  the  Cape,  dated  the  4th  and  the  28th  April. 
They  parted  with  the  Duff  near  the  Madeira  islands,  on  the  4th 
January, — all  well.  The  Doctor  and  the  three  others  preached  to, 
and  exhorted,  the  convicts  on  their  passage.  At  first,  these  poor 
outcasts  of  society  discovered  such  a  savageness  of  disposition, 
that  not  an  officer  on  board  durst  go  down  amongst  them.  They 
actually  mutinied,  and  it  was  by  strong  exertions  only  that  sub- 
ordination was  restored.  By  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  how- 
ever, to  them,  and  the  affectionate  interference  of  Dr.  Vanderkemp, 
in  his  medical  capacity,  and  by  the  ravages  of  a  putrid  fever, 
which  carried  off  about  thirty  of  them,  the  Lord  softened  their 
hearts ;  so  that,  before  they  reached  the  Cape,  there  were  three 
nights  of  the  week  set  apart  by  themselves  for  prayer,  for  reading 
the  word  of  God,  and  singing  of  psalms.  One  of  them,  Brown, 
joined  publicly  with  the  missionaries  in  leading  the  devotions  of  the 
congregation. 

"  General  Dundas,  governor  of  the  Cape,  gave  every  assistance 
in  his  power  to  our  friends.  A  house  was  provided  for  them,  on 
their  arrival,  by  information  previously  sent  from  Holland.  The 
Doctor  had  been  north,  at  Bavian's  Kloof,  the  Moravian  settlement, 
to  concert  measures  with   those   simple-hearted   people  for   intro- 


1*76  JOURNAL    OF    TOUR    TO    PARIS. 

ducing  the  Gospel  into  Caffraria.  There  is  a  remarkable  revival 
of  religion  at  the  Cape  at  present ;  so  that  our  friends  found 
themselves  in  the  bosom  of  Christian  hospitality,  of  the  primitive 
sort.'' 

"  October  22,  1799. 

"  I  have  been  a  week  at  Spithead,  along  with  Dr.  Haweis,  wait- 
ing on  some  great  folks,  in  behalf  of  our  missionaries  at  the  Cape 
and  Port  Jackson. 

"  The  missionaries  have  almost  all  arrived.*  Some  have  offer- 
red  to  go  again  on  the  same  errand,  nothing  intimidated  by  what 
hath  happened.  Others  have  declined.  Mr.  Robson  is  at  Lisbon, 
and  will  return,  we  hope,  in  a  week  or  two.  There  is  no  mission 
to  any  particular  place  yet  fixed  on,  except  to  the  Cape,  to  which 
six  or  eight  will  soon  be  sent." 

"  September  23,  1802. 
"  I  am  ordered  by  the  Missionary  Society  to  set  off  for  Paris  on 
Monday.  The  object  is  to  make  inquiry  into  the  state  of  religion 
there ;  to  ascertain  if  ministers  from  this  country,  not  taking  salaries 
from  government,  will  be  permitted  to  exercise  their  ministry  in 
France ;  and  to  advise,  on  the  spot,  the  likeliest  method  of  circula- 
ting the  Bible  in  the  country 

The  compiler  of  these  papers  having  expressed  a  request  that 
he  would  write  to  him  a  short  account  of  this  mission,  was 
kindly  favored  with  the  following  journal : — 

"  Salisbury  Place,  Nov.  24, 1802. 

"  On  my  return  home,  I  found  so  much  to  do,  and  all  requiring 
immediate  attention,  that,  anxious  as  I  have  been  to  gratify 
your  desire,  it  was  not  till  this  morning  that  I  have  been  able  to 
begin.  Now  that  I  have  sat  down,  all  I  shall  be  able  to  send 
you  is  only  an  outline.  The  report  in  the  Magazine  contains  a 
correct  statement  of  everything  that  concerns  our  great  object.f 
Anything  I  can  add  will  be  of  a  miscellaneous  nature.  If  you 
have  a  map  of  Normandy  and  Picardy  you  may  follow  us  every 
post." 

*  After  the  unfortunate  capture  of  the  ship  Duff  by  a  French  pri- 
vateer, off  the  coast  of  Brazil. 

f  Evangelical  Magazine  for  November,  1802. 


JOURNAL  OF  TOUR  TO  PARIS.  177 

"  1802 — Sept.  27. — Messrs.  Ilardcastle,  AVilks,  and  myself, 
went  to  Brighton,  where,  at  night,  Mr.  Bogue  met  us.  We  had 
been  furnished  with  passports  from  Lord  Ilawkesbury  and 
Monsieur  Otto,  for  which  we  paid,  each  of  us,  to  the  former, 
£2  :  4  :  G  ;  to  the  latter  nothing.  Our  government  wisely 
judges,  that  if  Englishmen  are  resolved  to  throw  away  their 
money  in  France,  they  will  not  grudge  to  advance  a  little  for 
permission  to  play  the  fool. 

"  Sept.  28. — About  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  we  went 
on  board  the  packet,  and  about  ten  next  morning  saw  the 
French  coast,  which  exhibited  the  same  bold  chalky  appear- 
ance as  the  Sussex  coast  which  we  had  left.  About  four 
o'clock,  we  landed  at  Dieppe  ;  and,  having  shown  our  pass- 
ports, and  suffered  a  description  to  be  taken  of  our  eyes, 
foreheads,  noses,  mouths,  color  of  our  hair,  &c.  to  be  sent 
to  the  prefect  of  police  at  Paris,  we  housed  ourselves  in  the 
Hotel  de  Rouen.  The  houses  resemble  much  those  in  the 
old  Town  of  Edinburgh  for  height,  dirtiness,  and  nearness  to 
each  other ;  the  streets  narrow ;  no  foot-pavement ;  kennel 
in  the  middle  ;  constant  conflict  with  jack-asses,  wagons, 
carts,  &c.  The  dress  of  the  women  very  like  that  of  the 
old  wives  in  Scotland,  except  the  beautiful  Normandy  cap, 
which  rises  up  from  the  forehead  like  a  grenadiers,  is  studded 
with  imitations  of  jewels,  and  falls  down  on  the  shoulders  in 
man?  folds  of  cambric.  The  shopkeepers  have  much  the 
look  of  the  baillies  of  a  Scottish  borough  on  a  Sabbath-day  : 
the  tie-wig  powdered — the  large  skirts  to  the  vest  and  coat 
— the  gold-headed  cane — the  cocked  large  military  hat — 
the  pursy  proud  gait,  as  they  jconsequentially  strut  through 
the  market — all  brought  powerfully  the  noblesse  of  our  royal 
boroughs  to  my  mind.  In  every  hat  is  the  cockade  of  citizen- 
ship, in  shape  of  a  parti-colored  rose,  of  the  size  of  a  half- 
crown  piece,  placed  in  a  conspicuous  part  of  the  hat.  The 
floors  of  every  room,  up  to  the  garret,  are  covered  with  a 
thin  kind  of  brick  or  tile,  sometimes  glazed  ;  which,  though  it 
keeps  the  chambers  cool  in  summer,  would  give  them  much 
the  look  of  a  back   kitchen,  were  not  the  eye  relieved   by  the 


178  JOURNAL    OF   TOUR   TO    PARIS. 

stately  height  and  extent  of  the  rooms,  the  rich  paper,  and 
the  princely  beds,  of  which  there  are  generally  two  in  each 
chamber. 

"  Living  at  Dieppe  is  very  cheap,  and  indeed  everywhere  in 
that  part  of  France  through  which  we  passed.  You  agree  for 
a  dinner  at  so  much  a  head,  and  leave  the  articles  entirely  to 
the  landlord.  Ours  cost  us  on  our  journey,  constantly,  trois 
livres  (half-a-crown),  for  which  we  had  a  profusion  of  fish,  fowl, 
game,  &c. 

"  Sept.  29. — Visited  one  of  the  churches :  found  two  men 
winnowing  wheat  before  the  floor  of  the  pulpit,  which  was  still 
remaining ;  but  in  place  of  the  Holy  Virgin  at  its  back,  as 
formerly,  the  rude  ruffians  of  reformation  (as  Dr.  Johnson 
styles  our  Scottish  whigs  of  the  sixteenth  century)  have  erected 
a  female  figure  of  the  Republic,  with  a  spear  in  her  hand,  sur- 
mounted with  a  cap  of  liberty. 

"Visited,  in  the  evening,  Monsieur  d'Armand,  the  Prot- 
estant minister  of  Dieppe.  (The  French  never  call  their 
ministers  Reverend,  but  simply  Monsieur  le  Vicaire,  TEveque, 
&c.)  Monsieur  d'Armand  we  found  in  a  small  closet,  with 
a  few  old  books,  eating  his  supper — a  piece  of  bread  and  beef 
— which  he  continued  to  munch  all  the  way  with  us  to  the 
hotel ; — a  pious,  lively  little  Frenchman,  who,  with  his  black 
velvet  cap,  great  coat  (without  a  vest),  leathern  girdle,  simple 
manners,  cheerful  and  devout  frame,  interested  us  much. 
He  had  studied  under  Monsieur  Mercier,  at  Geneva ;  was  set- 
tled at  Bordeaux  ;  was  imprisoned  in  the  time  of  the  tyrant, 
as  they  call  Robespierre  (who  indeed  appears  to  have  been  a 
most  execrable,  bloody  monster)  ;  and,  on  obtaining  liberty, 
resumed  his  functions,  and  is  now  comfortably  settled  among 
a  small,  but  peaceable,  affectionate,  and  liberal  people.  The 
magistrates  offered  him  a  parish  church,  but  he  declined  to 
accept  of  it,  because,  he  said,  that  on  exchange  of  conditions, 
he  should  feel  unhappy  at  seeing  his  meeting-house  so  con- 
verted. His  wife,  a  genteel  woman,  came  for  him  at  eleven 
o'clock,  to  the  hotel,  with  a  lantern,  sat  down,  and  with  the 
easy  degagee  manner  of  a  well-bred  French  woman,  entered 


JOURNAL  OF  TOUR  TO  TARIS.  1*79 

into  conversation  with  us,  at  the  table,  till  we  conducted  them 
to  their  habitation. 

"  Sept.  30. — Set  out  for  Rouen  the  capital  of  Normandy,  and 
birth-place  of  William  the  Conqueror.  The  cabriolets,  or 
single-horse  chaises,  have  large  shafts,  high  wheels,  and,  in  lieu 
of  leathern  traces,  arc  drawn  by  ropes.  The  postilion,  a  spruce, 
lively  little  fellow,  mounts  a  span;  horse,  which  also  assists  in 
drawing,  having  first  entered  into  his  jack  boots,  which  are 
like  Large  water-spouts,  having  four  iron  girths,  and  weighing, 
in  the  whole,  between  thirty  and  forty  pounds  :  he  goes  into 
them  shoes  and  all.  lie  uses  his  whip  in  such  manner  over 
his  head  (for  he  seldom  touches  his  horses),  that,  among  their 
narrow  streets  and  high  houses,  it  creates  a  noise  approaching 
to  the  sound  of  bush-fighting.  His  lively  manner,  unclouded 
cheerfulness  of  temper,  and  readiness  to  communicate  all  he 
knew,  together  with  his  obliging  disposition  and  care  of  our 
baggage,  render  the  postilion  no  inconsiderable  figure  in  the 
picture. 

"  The  road  from  Dieppe  to  Rouen,  about  forty  miles,  is 
planted  on  each  side  with  apple-trees,  which  were  loaded  with 
fruit.  They  make  large  quantities  of  cider  in  this  province, 
and  also  cau  de  vie  from  the  cider,  which  is  by  no  means 
equal  to  the  cau  de  vie  of  Cognac,  which  is  all  from  the 
grape.  No  hedges  all  the  way :  every  spot  cultivated.  We 
did  not  see,  in  all  our  journey,  ten  acres  of  land  which  could 
be  ploughed  that  was  not  ploughed.  Picardy,  for  a  hundred 
miles,  is  one  continued  corn-field,  without  hedge,  ditch,  or 
dyke. 

"The  chateaux,  or  gentlemen's  seats,  all  the  way  to  Rouen, 
are  completely  devastated ;  the  windows  broken  or  boarded  up, 
the  green  grass  growing  on  the  gravel  walks,  the  statues  pros- 
trate, the  iron  palings  wrenched  from  their  sockets,  &c.  <fec. 
<fcc.  This  observation  applies  in  a  general  sense  to  all  that 
we  saw.  The  superb  palace  of  the  Prince  de  Conde,  at 
Chantilly,  on  our  way  home,  is  rased  to  the  foundation. 
The  stables,  in  which  he  gave  a  dinner  to  several  German 
princes,  are  spared;    they   hold  three  hundred  horses.      On 


180  JOURNAL  OF  TOUR  TO  PARIS. 

our  way  to  Rouen,  I  enter  d  into  several  parish  churchyards, 
but  found  no  head-stones,  no  flat  stones,  no  monumental  in- 
scriptions on  the  walls — the  broad  hand  of  Equality  has  swept 
all  away ;  so  that  above  ground,  as  below,  there  is  no  distinctive 
vestige  of  proud  pre-eminence. 

"  Entered  Rouen  at  dusk.  The  entrance,  between  two  majes- 
tic rows  of  trees  for  more  than  a  mile  (the  large  lamps,  with 
reflectors,  suspended  between  the  two  rows),  is  very  noble. 
Rouen,  containing  one  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  is  situ- 
ated on  the  north  side  of  the  Seine,  on  a  gentle  acclivity,  sur- 
rounded, like  an  amphitheatre,  on  the  east,  north,  and  west,  by 
hills.  From  a  mountain,  called  St.  Catherine,  on  the  east,  you 
see  the  whole  city,  and  a  lovely  extent  of  rich  country  to  the 
south  and  west,  through  which  the  river  winds  her  course  far, 
far  down,  till  she  reaches  Havre  de  Grace,  where  she  falls  into 
the  Atlantic. 

"  Visited  Mons.  Mordant,  Protestant  minister.  He  preaches 
to  about  three  thousand  people.  Is  not  so  lively  a  Christian  as 
Monsieur  d'Armand.  Hopes  of  revival  of  religion  in  France 
more  from  the  government  than  the  exertions  of  her  pastors. 
He  preaches  in  a  parish  church,  but  expects,  on  the  arrival  of 
the  archbishop,  to  be  turned  out.  The  magistrates,  however, 
have  promised  him  a  house.  He  catechizes  the  youth  by  means 
of  Osterwald's  small  Catechism,  of  which  he  gave  me  a  copy. 
He  says  his  church  is  composed  of  people  who  are  moderate 
Calvinists. 

"  Was  conducted  through  the  city  by  Mons.  Dupont,  whom 
I  had  known  for  many  years  in  London,  and  who  is  now  re- 
tired to  his  vicarage.  In  the  great  church  of  Notre  Dame 
saw  many  masses  ;  few  people  attending,  and  they  generally 
poor  old  women.  Among  all  the  hundreds  we  saw  at  confes- 
sion while  we  were  in  the  country,  and  often  two  at  each  box, 
I  do  not  recollect  seeing  one  man.  How  much  more  freely 
the  tear  of  penitence  flows  from  a  female  eye  than  from  ours ! 
One  splendid  church  was  full  of  wheat:  Monsieur  Dupont, 
however,  told  me  he  expected  the  nuisance  would  be  removed 
on   the    archbishop's   arrival.      Buonaparte   has  as  yet   paid 


JOURNAL  OF  TOUR  TO  PARIS.  181 

the  established  clergy  no  salary  ;  and  as  very  few  of  the  peo- 
ple give  anything  for  mass,  baptisms,  burials,  or  visitations 
of  the  sick,  the  ministers  would  starve,  but  for  some  little 
patrimonial  property  they  have,  and  their  brotherly  kindness 
to  each  other.  The  sight  of  the  university,  with  the  grass 
waving  above  the  pavement,  and  the  doors  nailed  up,  deeply 
impressed  on  our  minds  the  barbarous  policy  of  that  vile  Goth, 
Robespierre. 

"Oct.  1. — Left  Kouen:  took  the  route  by  Ecouis,  Mont 
Fleuri,  Pontoise,  and  St.  Denis.  The  same  rich  country  ;  bread 
excellent ;  roads  bordered  with  fruit-trees,  in  the  same  manner 
as  from  Dieppe.  At  Pontoise  the  vineyards  begin  :  the  vines 
are  not  allowed  to  rise  higher  than  three  or  four  feet;  they  are 
supported,  like  hops,  by  poles,  and  extend  from  the  valley  to 
the  summit  of  the  heights.  The  whole  country  from  Pontoise 
to  Paris  is  covered  with  orchards  and  vineyards  intermingled. 
Saw,  at  last,  about  noon  of  Saturday,  October  2,  the  cathedral 
church  of  St.  Denis,  the  tutelar  saint  of  France  ;  the  slates  torn 
from  the  roof;  the  jackdaws  flying  through  and  through;  the 
ancient  cemeteries  of  the  kings  of  France  violated,  the  lead 
coffins  having  been  converted  into  musket  bullets,  the  bones 
hurled  into  a  common  hole  dug  in  the  vicinity  ;  the  beard  of 
Henri  Quah-e,  their  Robert  Bruce,  torn  from  his  face,  and 
worn  as  moustaches  by  a  rude  soldier ;  not  a  wreck  left  behind 
in  all  the  vaults,  which  we  minutely  examined ;  the  place 
converted  into  a  storehouse  for  flour,  of  which  it  is  now  almost 
full. 

"  Had  a  full  view  of  Paris,  which  lies  scattered  on  both 
sides  of  the  Seine — a  river  about  the  size  of  the  Tweed  at 
Kelso,  but  not  so  rapid.  The  houses  are  all  of  stone,  with 
balconies,  and  consist  of  four,  five,  or  six  stories.  The  build- 
ings, especially  at  the  north-east  end,  where  the  court  is,  are 
very  noble.  The  Louvre,  the  Tuileries  or  Consular  Palace, 
l'Hopital  des  Invalides,  and  many  others,  are  magnificent 
piles  of  building.  Far  to  the  south-west  is  St.  Cloud,  the 
Windsor  or  summer  residence  of  Buonaparte.  On  the  north- 
west is  St.  Germains,  the  habitation  of  our  James  Vll.     We 


182  JOURNAL  OF  TOUR  TO  PARIS. 

lodged  on  the  south  side  of  the  Seine,  in  the  Fauxbourg  St. 
Germain,  in  the  Hotel  de  Rochefoucauld.  It  deeply  affected 
me  the  first  night,  as  I  went  to  bed,  that  a  poor  seceding  min- 
ister was  sleeping  in  one  of  the  princely  apartments  and 
state  beds  of  the  palace  of  that  great  and  good  man  (guillo- 
tined solely  because  a  nobleman),  now  become  a  common 
hotel.  Our  accommodations  were  excellent,  and  charges  very 
reasonable. 

"  Sabbath,  October  3. — As  there  were  ten  English  peo- 
ple in  the  hotel,  we  had  public  worship  twice  each  Sabbath, 
but  early,  that  we  might  attend  Monsieur  Marron  at  noon 
in  the  Protestant  chapel  of  St.  Thomas  de  Louvre.  Thither 
we  were  accompanied  by  our  Parisian  friends — among  others, 
by  a  guid  auld-fashioned  Scots  wife  from  the  kingdom  of  Fife, 
a  Mrs.  Williams,  with  whom  I  w<  nt  arm-in-arm,  speaking 
of  the  Erskines  and  honest  Mr.  Shirra  of  Kirkaldy — to  the 
church  in  which  Louis  XI VT.  with  his  superb  court  was 
wont  to  worship.  The  congregation  consisted  of  about  four 
hundred  hearers.  One  of  the  elders  in  the  reader's  desk 
began  by  reading  a  chapter  in  the  Bible ;  then  they  sang  a 
few  verses  of  David's  Psalms — the  version  interlined  with 
music  of  the  Walloon  church — the  music  truly  grave  sweet 
melody.  They  have  the  organ  here,  because  left  since  the 
church  was  used  by  the  Papists,  and  because  the  Parisians 
are  fond  of  music.  After  the  Psalms  were  sung,  Monsieur 
Marron  prayed.  As  he  speaks  distinctly,  and  with  much 
manly  firmness,  we  understood  him  passablement  bien.  He 
is  one  of  the  finest  figures  I  have  ever  seen  in  a  pulpit.  His 
text  was,  Deut.  xxx.  11-18.  If  there  was  not  so  much  of 
the  Gospel  in  it  as  good  Eben.  Brown  would  have  put,  we 
discerned  nothing  contrary  to  the  truth.  The  Lord's  Supper 
was  dispensed — the  manner  much  like  our  own,  only  the  ex- 
hortations shorter,  and  the  communicants  receive  standing. 
Much  solemnity,  not  much  onction.  Marron's  manner  of  de- 
livery (as  you  Scots  folk  call  it)  is  bold,  and  rather,  at  least 
for  an  Englishman,  too  theatrical.  At  the  end  of  every  par- 
ticular the  preacher  pauses,  uses  his  handkerchief,  looks  about 


JOURNAL  OF  TOUR  TO  PARIS  183 

him, — and  the  congregation,  too,  suspend  their  attention  for 
a  minute,  and  by  coughing,  etc.  prepare  themselves  for  hear- 
ing, in  which  there  is  the  profoundest  silence,  and  much 
interest  discovered  in  their  countenances.  As  they  con- 
sider the  sermon  to  be  less  solemn  than  prayer  or  praise, 
many,  especially  of  the  old  men,  put  on  their  hats  during  the 
time.  There  were  four  tables,  aud,  in  all,  a  little  more  than 
one  hundred  communicants.  After  sermon  we  were  intro- 
duced to  Monsieur  Marron,  who  received  us  with  much 
kindness.  He  is  a  man  of  ability.  When  I  inform  you 
that  he  has  weathered  the  whole  revolutionary  storm,  and 
retains  liis  head  still  on  his  shoulders,  you  will  say  he  is  a 
man  of  consummate  prudence.  Except  a  few  months'  im- 
prisonment during  the  reign  of  terror  and  Kobespierre,  he  has 
not  suffered  much  during  all  the  changes  to  which  this  poor 
people  have  been  subject.  We  met  the  elders  as  we  went 
out  with  the  charity  velvet  purse  at  the  end  of  a  pole  (some- 
thing like  the  box  at  Stitchell) ;  and  in  the  street  a  few  old 
women,  seeing  us  Englishmen,  modestly  addressed  us  for  a 
little  help  :  '  Charity,  Messieurs/  pour  Vamour  de  bon  Diev, 
elm  rite  /' 

"  I  did  not  notice  more  than  half-a-dozen  shops  shut, — 
the  smiths,  masons,  carpenters,  all  at  work  as  on  other  days, 
— ballads,  shows,  dancings,  the  same  as  on  Monday.  At 
mass,  in  Notre  Dame,  few  communicants, — generally  women 
and  poor.  At  the  elevation  of  the  host  and  the  procession 
through  the  extensive  body  of  the  church,  no  intimation  that 
they  expected  any  reverence  from  us  : — much  civility.  '  Trones 
pour  la  reparation  de  Veglise''  fixed  on  every  pillar.  Some 
statues  of  the  Virgin  and  other  saints,  with  a  considerable 
number  of  excellent  paintings,  preserved.  I  entered  into  con- 
versation with  a  decent-looking  man,  and  wondered  that  I  saw- 
none  of  the  lords  of  the  creation  bending  the  knee  at  the  con- 
fessional box.  i  Les  tribunaux  de  conscience  ?  point,  ])oint  de 
confession,  monsieur;  nous  sommes  deyoutes  de  ces  clioscs  la? 
said  the  Frenchman,  shrugging  up  his  shoulders.  I  witnessed 
a  baptism ;  and,  truly,  when   you  see  a  priest  performing  for 


184  JOURNAL    OF    TOUR   TO    PARIS. 

almost  twenty  minutes  the  mummery  of  putting  salt  on  the 
poor  infant's  tongue,  a  candle  into  its  hand,  anointing  with  oil 
its  ears,  and  other  places  I  cannot  put  down  in  writing,  mum- 
bling over  exorcisms  in  Latin,  waving  his  hand  over  it  to  keep 
away  the  devil,  <fcc.  &c.  it  is  no  wonder  that  any  thinking  per- 
son should  become  sick,  and  long  (as  they  said)  for  a  religion 
that  will  eno-acre  the  understanding,  and  direct  the  virtuous 
movements  of  the  heart. 

"  The  salaries  of  the  parish  priests  are  £40,  and  some  £60,  a 
year  ;  of  the  bishops  £400,  and  £600  for  the  archbishop. 
Without  richer  funds  than  these,  or  more  of  common  sense  and 
the  Bible  in  their  system,  Popery,  and  even  Catholicism  with 
all  its  improvements,  must  soon  give  up  the  ghost.  Soon,  soon 
may  the  Protestant  world  be  called  to  sing  a  requiem  over  its 
entombed  corse ! 

"  Monday,  Oct.  4. — Held  conversation  with  our  Parisian 
friends  on  the  state  of  religion  in  France.  Impossible  to 
enter  into  the  detail.  In  general  there  are  supposed  to  be 
three  millions  of  Protestants  in  France,  including  Belgium, 
Switzerland,  and  the  Cisalpine  Republic.  Thirty  thousand 
in  Paris,  seventeen  thousand  at  Nismes,  &c.  But  in  truth 
every  post  brings  information  of  thousands  rising  up  as  from 
the  dead,  especially  in  the  western  and  southern  departments ; 
and  nothing  more  seems  necessary  than  a  respectable  body 
of  ministers  and  laymen  at  Paris  who  shall  be  employed  in 
organizing  the  great  mass,  in  giving  prudent  direction  and 
due  impulse  to  its  movements.  '  I  wish,'  says  Mr.  Bogue  to 
me,  in  a  letter  the  other  day,  '  I  could  cut  out  the  tongues 
of  the  half  of  your  ministers  in  Scotland,  and  put  French 
ones  in  their  place,  and  send  them  instantly  to  Amiens, 
Bourdeaux,  Nismes,  Paris,  where  the  harvest  is  so  great,  and 
the  laborers  almost  none.'  There  are  reckoned  about  three 
hundred  Protestant  ministers  in  France  ;  but  on  account  of 
the  troubles  during  the  revolution,  they  have  been  scattered 
for  bread  over  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  good  Dr.  Troissard 
(who  translated  Blair's  Sermons)  we  met  at  Paris ;  he  was 
obliged,  for  the  support    of  a  wife  and  eight  children,  to  be- 


JOURNAL  OF  TOUR  TO  TARIS.  185 

come  a  Spanish  wool  merchant ;  and  others  have  been  driven 
to  similar  shifts. 

"  Visited  the  Tuileries  (the  palace),  the  Place  de  Carrousel, 
where  the  brave  Swiss  Guards  were  killed  on  the  10th  August, 
and  the  Place  de  Concorde,  where  Louis  was  guillotined. 
N.  B.  Wherever  the  cannon-balls  have  made  impression  on 
the  walls  of  the  Tuileries,  there  is  inscribed  around  it  in  large 
letters,  k  Le  10'ne  d'Aout.'  The  scaffolding  where  Louis  was 
decapitated  is  in  part  standing,  with  a  sentinel  placed  over  it. 
A  gentleman  informed  us,  that  about  eleven  o'clock  at  night 
of  that  dire  day  he  ventured  into  the  Place  de  Carrousel  among 
the  dead,  and  with  difficulty  could  pick  his  way  through,  so 
closely  lay  the  bodies  together ;  not  the  least  signs  of  life  in 
any,  save  one  poor  fellow,  to  whose  mouth  our  friend  applied 
his  ear.  lie  vehemently  repeated  the  words  '  soif,  soi/P  was 
seized  with  convulsions,  and  died.  Notwithstanding  the  con- 
fusions of  that  day,  nobody  was  now  abroad — all  gone  to  rest, 
as  if  nothing  had  happened.  There  was  an  account  of  other 
scenes  given  by  our  friend,  which  made  me  ill ; — I  hurried  home 
and  went  to  bed. 

"To  relieve  your  mind  from  this  scene  of  blood,  I  will 
give  you  the  heads  of  a  sermon,  which,  as  Mons.  Marron 
told  us  that  night  at  supper,  was  preached  before  the  Prince 
of  Orange  lately,  at  the  Hague,  by  a  young  man  of  great  abil- 
ity,— who  saw  things  intuitively,  like  our  Professor,  and  whom, 
on  that  account,  the  Prince  had  greatly  wished  to  hear.  The 
young  man's  father,  an  ordinary  preacher  to  the  court,  was 
ordered  by  his  serene  highness  to  push  his  son  into  the  pulpit, 
next  Sabbath,  at  a  moment's  warning,  that  he  might  give  a  fair 
specimen  of  his  powers;  and  also  that  the  text  which  he 
should  give  him  should  be  Acts  viii.  26-40.  The  young 
man  was  confounded  ;  but  no  time  to  hesitate, — the  Prince's 
command  required  haste.  After  a  suitable  introduction,  he 
told  his  noble  and  crowded  audience  that  his  subject  contained 
f«»ur  wonders  {quatre  mcrveillcs),  which  he  should  make  the 
four  heads  of  his  sermon ;  and  if  he  should  say  anything  to 
which  their  ears  had  not  been  accustomed  in  that  place,  ho 


186  JOURNAL  OF  TOUR  TO  PARIS. 

hoped  that  his  unprepared  state  of  mind,  from  his  sudden  call, 
Vv'ould  plead  his  apology ;  and  that  they  would  consider  the 
things  he  might  speak  as,  according  to  our  Lord's  promise, 
'given  to  him  in  that  hour.' 

"  Head  I. — Merveille  la  premiere :  A  courtier  reads. 
Here  ho  deplored  the  sad  neglect  in  the  education  of  great 
men  in  modern  times,  and  the  little  attention  paid  by  them  to 
books, 

"  Head  II. — Merveille  la  seconde :  A  courtier  reads  the 
Bible.  Here  he  deplored  the  melancholy  want  of  religious 
sentiments  and  feelings  in  the  great,  and  the  impoverished  state 
of  a  mind  so  destitute. 

"  Head  III. — Merveille  la  troisieme :  A  courtier  owns  him- 
self ignorant  of  his  subject.  Here  he  exposed  the  conceit  and 
presumption  of  petulant  ignorance  in  high  places. 

"  Head  IV. — Merveille  la  quatrieme  :  A  courtier  applies  to 
a  minister  of  Christ  for  information,  and  follows  his  counsel. 

"  I  need  not  add  that  this  blade  never  set  his  snout  over  the 
Stadtholder's  pulpit  again,  and  that  his  serene  sleepy  highness 
did  not  nod  during  the  whole  sermon. 

"  Oct.  5. — Visited  the  Luxembourg,  St.  Sulpice,  the  Panthe- 
on, and  other  public  places.  The  only  two  great  men  ad- 
mitted yet  into  the  Pantheon  are  Voltaire  and  Rousseau. 
Viewed  the  church  of  the  Holy  Virgin,  with  a  view  to  pur- 
chase it :  it  is  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Abbey  prison,  where  the 
horrid  massacres  of  the  2d  and  3d  September  were  perpe- 
trated. Conversed  with  friends  on  the  object  of  our  mission 
during  the  rest  of  the  day, — the  prospect  opening  at  every 
new  conversation.  The  Lord  seems  to  have  great  grace  in 
store  for  this  people;  the  rubbish  is  removed,  the  foun- 
dation cleared,  nothing  wanting  but  zealous,  wise,  and  pru- 
dent ministers. 

"  Oct.  6. — Spent  the  morning  with  M.  Marron  and  our 
friends,  on  the  business  of  printing  the  Essay  and  New  Tes- 
tament. Visited  the  Gallery  of  paintings  and  statues  in  the 
Louvre.  It  is  impossible  to  convey  any  idea  of  the  perfection 
in  which  these  arts  appear  in  those  galleries.  All  that  is  noble, 


JOURNAL    OF    TOUR    TO    PARIS.  187 

beautiful,  and  impressive,  from   the  pencil  and  chisel   during 

ages  past,  brought  from  Belgium  and  Italy,  is  there  exhib- 
ited, and  will  draw  all  men  of  taste,  as  the  pole  the  needle,  to 
Paris.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  national  library,  which 
for  extent  and  value  of  manuscripts,  brought  from  the  Vatican, 
etc.,  exceeds  any  moderate  conception :  above  a  hundred  gens 
de  lettrcs,  sitting  at  tables,  copying  or  extracting,  attended  by 
librarians, — all  gratis.  The  mind  is  swallowed  up  in  the  mag- 
nitude and  interest  of  the  scene. 

"Oct.  7. — Attended  the  review  in  the  Place  de  Carrousel. 
Much  princely  pomp  in  Buonaparte's  entrance  in  a  chariot 
and  six,  preceded  by  trumpets,  and  followed  by  the  consular 
guards:  dressed  very  plainly, — no  gold  but  his  epaulets: 
Moreau,  Berthier,  and  his  other  generals,  had  an  astonishing 
profusion  of  gold  on  their  clothes.  Troops  strong,  clean-made, 
bold-looking  men  ;  horses  slender,  and  approaching  to  the  make 
of  the  Arabian.  Buonaparte  a  grave  and  rather  melancholy- 
looking  man,  about  five  feet  six  inches ;  thin,  and  very  sallow 
in  the  complexion. 

"  Spent  the  rest  of  the  day  with  Marron,  Rabaud,  Denon, 
and  other  friends  to  our  cause.  The  father  of  Rabaud  was 
Protestant  minister  at  Montauban ;  had  three  sons,  viz.  Ra- 
baud St.  Etienne,  a  member  of  the  Convention, — eminent  for 
piety  and  gentleness,  who  fell  under  the  guillotine  in  the 
reign  of  terror :  Rabaud-Pommee,  a  sub-prefect  in  the  south, 
but  who  now  means  to  resume  his  ministerial  office  :  Rabaud 
le  jeune,  our  friend,  member  of  the  legislative  body  from  Du 
Gard, — a  melancholy,  deeply-thinking,  devout  man,  about 
fifty.  He  told  us  that  his  father,  of  whose  piety  and  suffer- 
ings he  spoke  with  most  affectionate  veneration,  had  been  for 
forty-four  years  obliged  to  confine  himself  to  his  own  house, 
and  went  out  under  cloud  of  night  only  (and  then  under  the 
escort  of  a  chosen  band  of  young  men  armed  with  clubs)  to 
the  woods,  where  he  preached  and  baptized  the  children  of 
the  persecuted  Protestants.  In  1*774,  when  liberty  was 
granted  him  to  officiate  publicly,  he  was  welcomed  by  the 
whole  neighborhood :    '  for  my  father,'  said  the  good  Rabaud 


188  JOURNAL  OF  TOUR  TO  PARIS. 

to  us,  imy  father  was  loved  equally  by  Catholics  as  Prot- 
estants :  cases  of  civil  dissensions  were  generally  brought  to 
him,  though  confined  to  his  house ;  and  seldom  was  the  mat- 
ter carried  from  his  judgment  to  a  tribunal.'  The  summer 
after  his  release,  his  son  told  us,  the  communion  was  adminis- 
tered in  a  neighboring  valley.  Nature  had  formed  a  sort  of 
amphitheatre,  in  which  the  audience  sat ;  the  solemnity  con- 
tinued several  days.  The  Spirit  of  God  came  down  from 
heaven,  and  made  glad  the  solitary  place.  There  were  about 
fifteen  thousand  persons  present.  Their  horses  and  asses 
covered  for  a  mile  the  neighboring  fields.  '  Cetoit  un  beau 
spectacle  /'  exclaimed  the  good  man,  as  his  heart  warmed  at 
the  recollection.  'Twas  Stitchell  Brae!  echoed  my  soul,  or 
Kelso  Park,  on  a  grander  scale  ! 

"  Denon  is  member  for  Du  Lot ;  is  a  good  Greek  scholar, 
and  has  just  published  Arrian's  History.  He  understands 
English,  and  voluntarily  offered  to  translate  Mr.  Bogue's  Es- 
say, the  first  proof-sheet  of  which  we  received  the  Wednesday 
after  our  arrival  in  London.  He  is  a  man  of  deep  piety,  but 
more  lively  than  Rabaud.  He  has  some  thoughts  of  coming 
forward  himself  to  the  Christian  ministry. 

"  Afterwards  (for  I  am  tired  of  writing,  and  must  throw  to- 
gether into  a  mass  what  follows)  we  spent  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  our  time  with  Mons.  Forges  d'Avanzati,  who  had  for- 
merly been  the  Neapolitan  bishop  of  Canoza,  and  with  Cher- 
cher  d'Engiouy,  a  nobleman  of  Sardinia,  and  who  had  the 
command  of  the  island  in  the  king's  absence.  These  gentle- 
men, though  Catholics,  are  well  disposed  to  the  introduction 
of  the  Bible  ;  they  pointed  out  the  route  by  Geneva,  Pied- 
mont, Turin,  and  onward  to  Naples,  where  we  are  perfectly 
safe  in  preaching  the  Gospel.  Every  assistance  in  their  power 
they  offer  in  the  way  of  translating  or  recommending.  Dr. 
Troissard  is  to  clothe  Mr.  Robert  Walker's  sermons  in  as  ele- 
gant French  as  he  formerly  clothed  Dr.  Blair's;  and  you 
will  not  doubt  that  the  lovers  of  the  Gospel  in  France  will  give 
a  decided  preference  to  the  former. 

"  Settled  with  our  printer  for  the  Bibles,  &c.     Had  many 


JOURNAL  OF  TOUR  TO  PARIS.  189 

interviews  with  friends  to  the  Redeemer  in  Paris,  who  all 
embraced  lis  and  our  object  with  cordiality.  Proposed  to 
Mons.  Marron  that  one  of  us  should  preach  in  English  in  the 
pulpit,  on  Sabbath  10th.  The  proposal  received  with  pleas- 
ure :  but  as  Mons.  M.  is  a  salaried  minister,  and  has  a  gov- 
ernment church,  he  thought  it  but  right  to  mention  it  to 
Portallis,  the  minister  of  state  for  religion,  lest  it  should  seem 
an  infraction  of  the  first  article  of  the  Concordat  (the  whole 
of  which,  by  the  by,  respects  only  the  salaried  ministers  who 
have  churches  given  them  by  government),  viz.  '  JVul  ne 
pourra  exercer  les  fonctions  du  culte  sHl  n'est  Francais?  Port- 
allis very  frankly  gave  us  leave,  and  proffered  to  send  us  a 
guard  of  honor,  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  English  nation, 
and  of  his  veneration  for  the  piety  of  our  mission.  This  was 
positively  declined.  Had  Louis  XIV.  come  in,  and  seen  a 
huge  Scots  Seceder  in  his  pulpit,  and  heard  him  praying  for  le 
Premier  Consul,  once  a  poor  contemned  Corsican,  but  now  on 
the  throne  of  the  Bourbons,  what  would  the  Grand  Monarque 
have  thought  ?  Mr.  Bogue  gave  us  an  admirable  sermon,  after 
prayer,  on  '  God  is  love.'  The  English  did  not  exceed  sixty ; 
the  French  two  hundred,  or  thereabouts.  We  have  learned 
since,  that  next  Sabbath  the  house  was  full  of  English  ;  but  we 
were  at  Amiens  that  day.  The  Lord,  however,  will  send  them 
the  rain  in  due  season.  Marron  understands  English  so  as  to 
read  our  books,  and  recited  to  me  the  particulars  of  Mr.  B.'s 
sermon  afterwards  in  the  vestry.  Poor  in  ourselves  in  every 
sense,  I  thought  that  if  Calvin,  Claude  of  Charenton,  Abadie, 
Superville,  and  other  godly  ministers  of  France,  were  permitted 
to  be  spectators  of  the  scene,  they  would  cordially  welcome  us, 
and,  may  be,  view  us  as  the  little  cloud  which  the  prophet's 
servant  saw,  about  the  bigness  of  a  man's  hand,  but  which 
would  soon  cover  the  hemisphere,  and  make  the  desert  rejoice 
and  blossom  as  the  rose. 

"  I  really  can  scarcely  hold  the  pen  longer. 

"Our  route  homewards,  October  15,  was  by  Clermont, 
Amiens  (of  which  I  have  much  to  say),  Abbeville,  Breteuil, 
Boulogne,  and  Calais.     At  the  last   place,  Mi.  Ready,  a  godly 


190  RESULT  OF  THE  FRENCH  TOUR. 

Baptist  minister,  lias  taken  a  nunnery,  made  a  chapel  in  it,  and 
opened  a  school.  The  magistrates  have  promised  to  attend 
when  the  chapel  is  opened,  to  which  Mr.  Wilks  and  I  are  in- 
vited ;  but  the  cold  weather  and  the  stormy  sea  at  Christmas, 
I  fear,  will  frighten  us.  The  magistrates  long  for  the  opening, 
that  they  may  put  an  end  (in  terms  of  the  Concordat)  to  the 
procession  of  the  host  in  the  streets. 
"Now,  my  dear  Sir,  good  night." 

It  appears  from  an  address  to  the  Protestants  in  France, 
printed  in  the  French  language,  and  circulated,  by  direction  of 
the  London  Missionary  Society,  by  the  members  of  this  mis- 
sion during  their  tour,  that  the  chief  objects  proposed,  were 
to  promote  the  revival  of  pure  religion  in  that  country,  by  such 
fraternal  aids  and  encouragements  as  the  restoration  of  peace 
and  the  re-establishment  of  a  regular  government  might  ren- 
der available.  The  prospects  of  success  were  at  first  flatter- 
ing; but  the  speedy  resumption  of  hostilities  between  the 
two  nations,  and  the  reciprocal  exacerbations  of  a  fierce  and 
lengthened  conflict,  again  broke  off  all  friendly  correspondence 
between  good  men  of  both  countries,  and  the  pious  gradua- 
tions of  "  peace  and  good  will"  were  drowned  amidst  the  dire 
clangor  of  arms.  Such  of  our  readers  as  may  desire  farther 
information  as  to  the  results  of  this  brief  Christian  intercourse, 
we  refer  to  the  pages  of  the  "  Evangelical  Magazine"  of  that 
period. 

Dr.  Waugh's  increasing  bodily  ailments,  and  severe  illness 
in  1805-6,  appear  to  have  interrupted  for  some  time  his  per- 
sonal services  upon  missionary  tours;  but  as  soon  as  his 
health  was  restored,  we  find  him  again  actively  employed  in 
this  important  labor.  In  the  year  1807  he  was  engaged  in 
a  missionary  tour  in  different  parts  of  England,  for  three 
months.  In  1809,  during  a  brief  but  busy  excursion  of 
twenty-one  days,  he  preached  twenty-six  sermons  in  twenty 
different  places;  and  in  1811  he  was  employed  during  the 
whole  month  of  June  in  similar  laborious  services,  journeying 
and  preaching  through  the  counties  of  Dorset,  Devon,  Somer- 


TOUR   TO     IRELABFD.  191 

set,  and  Cornwall.      And,  independently  of  his  exertions  in 

travelling,  preaching,  collecting  contributions,  and  forming 
auxiliary  associations  throughout  the  country,  his  labors  for 
the  missionary  cause  in  other  respects,  and  especially  in  car- 
rying on  a  most  extensive  correspondence  with  ministers  and 
pious  men  throughout  all  parts  of  the  British  empire  and  in 
foreign  countries,  were  zealous  and  unremitting,  from  the  first 
establishment  of  the  society  to  the  very  close  of  his  life. 

The  following  honorable  testimony  to  his  services  in  the 
missionary  cause  is  given  by  one  of  his  most  esteemed  fellow- 
laborers,  to  whose  valuable  communications  we  have  repeat- 
edly directed  the  attention  of  our  readers : — "  From  the  year 
1803,  when  I  removed  to  London  from  Coventry,  to  182*7, 
I  was  in  the  habit  of  meeting  Dr.  Waugh  frequently.  I  had 
occasion  to  travel  several  long  journeys  with  him  on  account 
of  the  society;  and  a  most  agreeable  companion  he  was.  He 
was  ever  ready  for  every  good  work,  and  ever  ready  to  pre- 
fer others  to  himself.  His  heart  was  in  the  missionary  work, 
and  he  pleaded  the  cause  of  Christ  and  the  heathen  ex  ammo. 
He  was  everywhere  received  by  pious  people  with  delight, 
and  never  foiled  to  enliven  the  company  by  that  civility  and 
vivacity  of  conversation  in  which  he  excelled." 

In  the  summer  of  1812  he  was  sent  by  the  Missionary 
Society,  along  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jack  of  Manchester,  to 
Ireland,  where  the  cause  of  missions  had  as  yet  excited  but 
a  very  small  degree  of  interest.  The  following  letters  ad- 
dressed to  Mrs.  Waugh,  will  afford  our  readers  a  short  detail 
of  the  various  incidents  connected  with  this  mission ;  and 
will  serve  to  exhibit  the  temper  and  disposition  of  the  writer 
in  his  most  confidential  and  unreserved  communications : — 

,c Lutterworth,  Leicestershire,  June  10,  1812. 
"By  the  tender  care  and  mercy  of  God,  I  arrived  here  in 
safety  last  night  at  seven  o'clock.  The  country  through  which 
I  passed  exhibits  in  every  spot  a  field  which  the  Lord  hath  blessed. 
I  had  no  company  until  we  arrived  at  Minims,  beyond  Barnet, 
when  eight  outside  passengers,  chiefly  graziers  from  Leicester- 
shire, singularly  strong  and  healthy  men,  of  the  true  old  Saxon 


192  TOUR    TO    IRELAND. 

breed,  sat  down  to  breakfast  on  cold  beef,  cold  lamb,  eggs,  and 
beefsteaks,  in  a  style  of  cordiality  I  had  never  witnessed  before. 
Ashamed  of  my  apparent  incapacity,  I  began  to  taste  the  steaks ; 
and,  for  a  novice,  acquitted  myself,  I  thought,  very  well.  They 
saw  I  was  but  a  raw  hand,  and  encouraged  me  both  by  word 
and  deed,  to  quit  myself  like  a  man,  and  be  strong.  I  did  so, 
and  felt  the  benefit  of  it  all  the  day — no  cur-nawing  in  my  sto- 
mach, but  perfect  peace  and  quietness." 

"  Conglelon,  Cheshire,  June  16,  1812. 

"  On  this  day  thirty  years  I  began  my  public  ministry  in 
Wells  Street  pulpit.  How  much  divine  forbearance  and  most 
unmerited  goodness  have  been  manifested  towards  me  during 
that  long  period !  How  little  have  I  done  for  the  cause  of  reli- 
gion in  comparison  with  what  I  might  have  done !  My  heart 
grows  cold  when  I  look  back  on  a  life  barren  of  good,  and  blot- 
ted with  guilt.  How  much  should  the  atonement  be  prized  by 
me,  and  that  text  which  is  the  very  pith  and  marrow  of  the 
Gospel :  '  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  God's  Son,  cleanseth  from  all 
sin  !: 

"  Mr.  Jack  goes  with  me  to  Ireland  for  six  weeks.  If  the  two 
Synods,  as  I  hope,  give  me  permission  to  preach  in  their  pulpits,  it 
will  be  impossible  for  ine,  in  the  limited  time  allotted  to  me,  to  fulfil 
my  mission.  Mr.  Jack  will  take  one  range,  and  I  will  take 
the  other.  It  will  confirm  his  health,  which  requires  a  change 
of  air.  He  has  already  procured  five  days'  supply.  I  meet  him 
to-morrow  at  the  good  Mr.  Spears',  near  Warrington,  and  thence 
proceed  to  Liverpool.  On  Friday  I  expect  to  preach  in  Chester, 
where  the  pious  Mr.  Matthew  Henry  was  minister ;  and  as  we 
cannot  reach  Dublin  on  Sabbath  to  preach,  we  will  try  to  do 
something  for  the  institution  at  Liverpool ;  and  on  Monday  set  oft* 
for  Holyhead." 

"  Chester,  June  22,  1812. 

"  Mr.  Jack  and  I  are  thus  far  on  our  journey  to  Holyhead, 
where  we  hope,  by  the  kind  care  of  a  vigilant  Providence,  to  ar- 
rive to-morrow  evening  about  five  o'clock.  We  sleep  there ;  and 
next  day  about  three  o'clock  we  sail  in  the  mail-packet  for 
Dublin. 

"  Yesterday  I  preached  in  the  splendid  new  meeting-house 
built  for  the  amiable  young  Spencer,  whose  death  the  churches 


TUUK    TO    IRELAND.  193 

have  so  justly  and  feelingly  lamented.  Mr.  Raffles  has  promised 
me  a  collection  when  I  return.  I  have  just  now  been  in  the  pulpit 
of  the  great  Matthew  Henry.  The  place  remains  as  it  was  built 
in  1700 ;  the  pulpit  the  same  ;  the  six  volumes  of  his  Commentary 
printed  in  1720,  and  placed  in  different  scats  of  the  meeting-house, 
remain;  but,  alas!  the  glory  of  divine  truth  is  departed:  Jesus  is 
degraded  into  a  God  of  no  reputation. 

"  I  visited  yesterday  the  walls  and  castle  of  this  city,  celebrated 
as  a  Roman  station,  and  saw  many  of  the  remaining  parts  of 
the  fortifications,  the  actual  workmanship  of  the  Romans  in  the 
time  of  Agricola.  Last  night  I  met  most  unexpectedly  with 
two  persons  from  Edinburgh,  whom  I  found  to  have  been  inti- 
mate with  many  of  my  fellow-collegians  forty  years  ago  at  the 
University.  How  Providence  scatters  Scotchmen  over  the  face  of 
the  earth  !  Their  name  Scuit  means  wanderers — and  as  their  name 
is,  so  are  they. 

*  It  rains  to-day,  and  my  spirits  are  rather  flat.  My  journey, 
however,  on  the  whole,  will  be  of  service,  I  hope,  to  my  health. 
For  these  last  six  years  I  have  been  able  to  do  very  little  in  the 
cause  of  sending  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen.  It  is  probable  this 
may  be  my  last  service  of  the  kind.  Somebody  must  take  the 
laboring  oar.  If  every  one  shall  say,  '  I  pray  thee  have  me  ex- 
cused,' the  heathen  must  perish,  without  one  helping  hand  stretched 
forth  to  save  them.  There  is  none  of  the  directors,  in  the  Christian 
ministry,  who  owes  more  than  I  owe  to  the  Son  of  God,  and  who 
ought  on  this  account  to  step  before  me  in  these  services :  and  it  is 
the  only  return  in  my  power  to  make  in  the  way  of  gratitude.  My 
own  family  cannot  suffer  materially  by  my  short  absence ;  and  the 
variety  of  the  public  administrations  in  the  house  of  God  will,  I 
trust,  be  both  pleasing  and  edifying.  The  accounts  I  receive  of 
yourself,  and  the  children  who  are  with  you  at  Penge  Common, 
will  comfort  and  strengthen  my  heart,  and  send  me  to  the  throne 
of  God  with  oblations  of  unfeigned  gratitude  to  the  bountiful  Giver 
of  all  our  mercies. 

"  P.  S. — When  Mrs. calls,  give  her  ten  shillings,  and  bid 

Thomas  sign  a  letter  to  the  Scots  Hall  for  her  for  the  second 
Wednesday  of  July." 

9 


194  TOUR    'I'D    TKSLAND. 

"  At  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bridges*,  near  Aughnacloy, 
Tyrone,  Ireland,  June  27,  1812. 

"  On  Thursday  I  arranged  matters  for  our  collections  in  Dub- 
lin on  to-morrow  fortnight,  and  left  Mr.  Jack  to  preach,  and 
make  our  object  as  extensively  known  as  possible,  till  my  return, 
which  I  hope  will  be  on  Friday  week,  the  10th  of  July.  Yes- 
terday I  set  off,  and  travelled  by  Drogheda  and  Dundalk  to 
Newry,  where  I  slept;  and  this  day  by  Armagh,  Caledon,  and 
Aughnacloy,  to  my  present  quarters.  Good  reason  have  I  to  say 
with  David,  Psalm  cxxi.  8, '  The  Lord  hath  preserved  my  going  out 
and  my  coming  in.' 

"  At  Armagh  I  inquired  for  Mr.  Hamilton,  and  found  that  he 
had  the  very  day  before  set  off  for  London.  The  good  folks 
here  are  all  at  the  sermon  preparatory  to  the  communion  to- 
morrow, on  which  account  I  have  hurried  down,  that  I  might  meet 
the  Synod  of  Ulster  on  Tuesday,  at  Cookstown,  Tyrone,  where  I 
will  tarry  till  Friday,  and  meet  our  Secession  Synod  the  Tuesday 
after  at  Armagh. 

"  The  appearances  of  poverty  in  this  country,  and  the  coldness 
of  some  of  the  ministers,  whom  I  have  seen,  to  our  cause,  are  not 
very  encouraging  omens  of  success  ;  but  I  shall  endeavor  to  exe- 
cute the  trust  committed  to  me  with  all  earnestness  and  fidelity,  and 
leave  the  event  to  Divine  Providence." 

In  his  memorandum-book  there  is  the  following  notice : — 
"June  28,  Castle  Caulfield.— The  administration  of  the  holy 
communion.  Sermon  on  the  green  among  the  ruins  of  the 
castle.  How  different  the  sounds  there  now  from  the  wild 
uproar  of  ancient  manners  in  the  baron's  castle  !  how  different 
the  dress  and  simple  manners  of  the  people  from  the  habits 
of  those  days  !  So  may  the  blessed  Gospel  humanize  the 
heart  of  man ! — Psalm  cxix.  32." 

"  Cookstown,  July  4,  1812. 

c;  The  Synod  of  Ulster  yesterday  gave  me  permission  to  preach, 
and  to  collect  in  the  pulpits  of  such  ministers  in  their  bounds  as 
should  find  themselves  disposed  to  countenance  my  object. 
About  seven  or  eight  have  invited  me.  I  begin  to-morrow  in  this 
town. 
.  "  Next  Monday  I  proceed  to  Armagh  to  meet  our  own  Synod. 


TOUR    TO    IRELAND.  195 

On  Friday  night  1  hope  to  bo  in  Dublin,  and  to  find  letters  from 
my  dear  family.  On  Monday  the  13th.  Mr.  Jack  and  I  will  arrange 
our  route,  which,  for  aught  I  now  see,  will  be  gone  over  in  a  fort- 
night; after  which  we  shall  hasten  back  to  Liverpool." 

In  his  memorandum-book  is  the  following  notice  of  his  in- 
terview with  the  Synod  of  Ulster: — "July  3,  1812,  Cooks- 
town.  Letter  of  the  directors  read  at  the  instance  of  Messrs. 
Horner  and  Haima,  who  were  very  friendly;  opposed  by 
.  The  Synod  at  length  agreed  to  express  their  ap- 
probation of  the  Missionary  Society,  and  to  leave  it  to  each 
minister  to  invite  me  into  their  pulpits  as  they  shall  think 
proper.  Distributed  reports,  addresses,  &c.  Received  invita- 
tions from  the  following  ministers."  Then  follows  a  list  of 
seven  or  eight  ministers. 

A  gentleman  distinguished  for  successful  labors  in  the 
missionary  field,  who  travelled  through  the  north  of  Ireland 
in  1828,  has  favored  us  with  an  account  of  this  meeting 
highly  honorable  to  Dr.  Waugh,  who,  with  his  characteristic 
modesty  and  forbearance,  was  entirely  silent  in  his  corres- 
pondence, both  with  the  directors  and  with  his  own  friends 
and  family,  on  the  subject  of  his  persuasive  defence  of  the 
important  cause  which  had  been  intrusted  to  him.  "The 
following  anecdote,"  says  Dr.  Philip,  "  was  related  to  me  by 
several  individuals  during  my  late  excursion  in  Ireland.  In 
order  to  render  it  more  intelligible  to  readers  in  England,  it 
may  be  premised,  that  the  Presbyterians  in  the  north  of  Ire- 
land are  divided  into  different  bodies,  of  which  the  principal 
are  that  designated  the  Synod  of  Ulster  and  the  Seceders. 
The  Synod  is  connected  with  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and 
the  Seceders  are  in  communion  with  the  Scotch  Secession 
Church,  to  which  Dr.  Waugh  belonged.  The  Secession 
Church  in  Ireland,  like  the  Seceders  in  Scotland,  has  always 
strictly  adhered  to  the  doctrinal  standard  of  the  Westminster 
Confession ;  but  many  of  the  members  of  the  Synod  of  Ulster 
have  been  long  known  to  have  a  leaning  to  opinions  diverg- 
ing widely   from  that  standard ;    and  this  circumstance,  along 


190  TOUR    TO    IRELAND. 

with  others,  formed  a  barrier  to  any  cordial  union  between 
these  two  bodies,  and  rendered  a  strong  party  in  the  Synod 
inimical  to  the  cause  for  which  Dr.  Waugli  had  come  to 
plead.  Accordingly,  when  a  request  was  presented  that  he 
might  be  heard  at  the  bar  of  the  reverend  Synod,  as  a  deputy 
from  the  London  Missionary  Society,  the  petition  gave  rise 
to  a  very  warm  discussion,  which  was  marked  by  acrimoni- 
ous language  on  the  side  of  the  anti-mission  party.  After  a 
debate  of  considerable  length,  during  which  Dr.  Waugh  heard 
himself  reflected  on,  by  gentlemen  who  did  not  know  him 
nor  the  other  conductors  of  the  society,  in  language  which 
gave  pain  to  all  his  friends  who  were  then  present,  he  was  at 
last  permitted  to  speak.  The  triumph  of  his  benevolence  and 
eloquence  was  never  more  conspicuous  than  on  this  occasion. 
Notwithstanding  the  disadvantages  under  which  he  rose  to  ad- 
dress  the  assembly,  I  was  assured  by  several  gentlemen  who 
were  then  present,  that  he  had  not  spoken  half  an  hour  when 
there  was  not  a  dry  eye  to  be  seen  among  all  his  auditors ;  and 
several  of  the  individuals  who  had  reflected  on  him  in  severe 
terms  were  the  most  deeply  affected.  From  that  day,  so  far  as 
the  Synod  was  concerned,  liberty  wras  granted  that  every  pulpit 
might  be  opened  to  the  deputation  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society." 

The  following  notice  is  marked  in  his  memorandum-book,  in 
reference  to  his  very  cordial  reception  by  his  brethren  of  the 
Seceding  Synod  of  Ireland  : — "  Wednesday,  July  8,  1812, 
Armagh.  Attended  the  Synod.  My  letter  from  the  directors 
was  read.  Addressed  the  Synod.  Received,  on  the  reading 
of  the  roll,  a  cordial  invitation  from  each  minister  and  elder 
to  preach  and  plead  the  cause  of  the  heathen.  The  clerks  of 
the  Presbyteries  to  give  me  the  addresses  of  all  the  ministers, 
that  I  may  arrange  them  at  Dublin,  and  send  word  to  them 
of  the  day  appointed  for  each  place  respectively." 

'  Dublin,  Sabbath  Morning,  July  12,  1812. 
"  After  a  journey  of  about  two  hundred  miles,  the  gracious  prov- 
idence of  our  heavenly  Father  brought  me  back  in  safety  Lo  this 


TOUR    TO    IRELAND.  197 

city  last  night.  The  journey  was  not  without  fatigue  ;  but,  alas  ! 
how  scrupulously  we  weigh  any  little  hardships  we  undergo  for 
the  sake  of  Christ  and  of  his  church  !  Much  kindness,  however, 
I  received  from  our  ministers,  as  you  will  have  heard  by  my  letter 
of  Friday  from  Armagh.  The  Lord  has  opened  a  door,  I  trust,  of 
much  future  benefit  to  the  cause  of  missions,  when  I  can  no  longer 
plead  their  cause.  A  spirit  is  awakened  in  the  north  of  Ireland 
which,  if  wisely  managed,  promises  to  furnish  powerful  aid  to  the 
parent  institution  in  London. 

"  I  found  Mr.  Jack  in  perfect  health,  and  was  happy  to  think  that, 
by  his  acceptable  preaching,  he  hath  prepared  the  way  for  our  suc- 
cess in  Dublin.  We  meet  with  our  active  friends  to-morrow  morn- 
ing, to  arrange  the  plan  for  our  future  operations.  I  will  inform 
you  of  them  before  I  close  this  letter. 

"  Mr.  Jack  preaches  this  morning  in  Dr.  Macdowall's  meeting- 
house, and  I  in  our  own.  The  young  man  who  is  the  successor 
of  good  Mr.  Pollock,  a  Mr.  Gass,  I  met  with  at  Armagh,  in  the  last 
stage  of  a  consumption.  What  a  powerful  call  to  work  while  it  is 
day  !  the  night  cometh  fast  on,  in  which  no  man  can  work ! 

"  Tuesday  will  be  an  eventful  day  to  our  young  friends.  I  hope 
you  and  I  shall  bear  them  on  our  hearts  before  the  throne  of  God. 
If  they  begin  their  journey  in  his  fear,  he  will  be  their  guide  and 
shield  all  the  wilderness  through.  He  has  been  so  to  all  who  have 
put  themselves  under  his  care. 

"  I  wrote  to  Alexander  last  week,  and  also  to  Mr.  Dick,  on  the 
subject  of  his  going  this  harvest  to  Selkirk.  I  do  not  expect  that 
the  Presbytery  will  admit  him  as  a  student  of  divinity,  but  only  as 
a  hearer.  This,  however,  will  be  of  great  advantage  to  him.  The 
journey  and  change  of  air  will  confirm  his  health,  and  prepare  him 
for  the  confinement  and  labors  of  the  coming  winter,  at  college. 

In 's  letter  to  him  I  hope  she  will  write  in  a  very  serious 

manner,  and  urge  upon  him  the  necessity  of  living  near  to  God, 
and  of  attending  to  the  great  mental  preparation  for  the  ministry — 
the  regeneration  of  the  heart.  Without  this,  everything  else  is 
nothing. 

"  I  am  interrupted ; — love  to  all.     Farewell." 

Owing  to  the  dampness  and  coldness  of  the  season,  and  his 
frequent  exposure  to  its  influence,  he  was  seized,  at  this  period 
of  his  visit  to  Ireland,  with  very  alarming  symptoms  of  inter- 


198  TOUR    TO    IRELAND. 

nal  weakness,  the  effect  of  which  was  to  bring  a  cloud  over  the 
fair  prospects  he  cherished  as  connected  with  his  journey  into 
the  northern  counties.  The  following  letter  to  Mrs.  Waugh 
shows  how  severely  he  felt  this  disappointment,  and  with  what 
holy  jealousy  he  watched  over  the  state  of  his  own  heart,  and 
the  motives  that  prompted  the  interest  it  took  in  the  increasing 
success  of  the  missionary  cause  : — 

"Dublin,  July  27,  1812. 

"  The  disappointment  of  my  wishes,  in  regard  to  my  journey 
to  the  North,  has  shaken  my  mind  and  disturbed  my  peace,  in  no 
common  measure,  during  the  whole  of  last  week.  I  had  set  my 
heart  upon  it,  and  had  written  to  the  ministers  where  I  was  to 
preach  during  this  week  and  next  Sabbath,  and  was  arranging  the 
places  for  the  three  weeks  to  come.  After  the  physicians  had  for- 
bidden me  to  adventure,  I  was  still  in  hope  of  being  able  to  go. 
Indeed,  on  Saturday,  after  I  bad  written  to  you,  I  felt  the  impulse 
so  strong,  that  I  sat  down  to  write  to  the  ministers.  But  Mr.  Jack 
and  my  other  friends  convinced  me  that,  under  all  the  circum- 
stances, the  end  would  be  more  likely  to  be  gained  next  summer  by 
a  minister  on  horseback,  and  who  should  devote  at  least  four  months 
to  this  object.  A  letter  I  received  at  the  same  time  from  one 
of  my  most  zealous  friends  at  Tullach,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Johnstone, 
stating  the  painful  pressure  on  the  poor,  and  the  contributions 
which  the  opulent  are  obliged  to  make  to  prevent  absolute  perish- 
ing for  want,  strengthened  what  was  said  against  my  journey. 
My  mind  sunk  under  the  load  !  Perhaps  God  was  displeased  with 
me,  as  seeking  more  the  establishment  of  my  own  character  as  a 
laborer  in  the  vineyard  than  the  honor  of  his  name.  I  fear  T  was 
enjoying,  in  the  fond  anticipation  of  my  success, — '  Is  not  this  the 
Babylon  that  I  have  built  ?' 

"  I  have  the  consolation,  however,  of  having  been  the  instru- 
ment of  awakening  a  deep  interest  in  the  minds  of  many  of  God's 
ministers  and  people  in  behalf  of  the  heathen,  which  will  be  cherished 
by  our  correspondence  with  them  ;  and,  I  hope,  by  some  ministers 
sent  over  next  summer.  An  auxiliary  society  is  also  established 
here ;  it  was  finally  settled  on  Saturday.  This  will  keep  alive  the 
flame  in  Dublin,  and  be  the  medium  of  communication  with  the 
North. 

"Yesterday  Mr.   Jack   preached   in  Dr.  Macdowall's  meeting- 


TOUR    TO    IRELAND.  199 

house,  and  I  addressed  the  congregation  on  the  object  and  present 
state  of  the  mission.  We  got  £100, 18.5.  In  the  evening  I 
preached  in  York  Street,  and  got  £34.  I  shall  probably  preach 
in  Mr.  Cooper's  on  Sabbath,  and  may  get  a  collection  there  also. 
T  have  prepared  Mr.  Raffles  for  making  the  promised  collection  in 
Liverpool  on  Sabbath  week.  Mr.  Jack  leaves  us  to-night.  My 
complaint  is  somewhat  relieved  ;  but  the  weather  is  so  cold,  and 
damp,  and  rainy,  that  £  long  to  be  out  of  this  country.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Davis,  in  York  Street,  has  been  severely  afflicted  with 
the  same  complaint,  and  unable  to  preach  :  Mr.  Jack,  also, 
•  slightly. 

"  I  have  been  out  all  this  morning  begging.  The  rich  folks  are 
almost  all  in  the  country.  I  long  for  a  little  rest  and  warmth,  and 
hope  to  have  it  at  Liverpool  for  a  day  or  two. 

"  We  expect  an  annual  missionary  meeting  in  Dublin,  like  that 
in  London." 

"At  Sea,  Tuesday,  morning,  August  4,  1812, 
on  deck  of  the  packet  to  Holyhead. 
"  The  hurry  and  bustle  attendant  on  departure  prevented  me 
from  writing  to  you  yesterday  from  Dublin.  The  packet  is  just 
now  tolerably  steady.  I  have  made  a  good  breakfast.  Snowdon, 
the  Ben  Nevis  of  Wales,  with  his  brothers  of  inferior  stature,  the 
other  mountains  of  Carnarvon,  full  in  view.  My  heart,  I  trust,  is 
not  insensible  to  the  gracious  care  of  Providence  in  preserving  me 
from  accidents,  in  causing  to  abate  a  distemper  which  at  one 
time  rather  alarmed  me,  and  in  giving  me  favor  in  the  eyes  of 
strangors,  and  opening  their  hearts  to  the  claims  of  sympathy  in 
behalf  of  the  poor  heathen ;  so  that  I  have  been  able  to  bring  with 
me  between  £300  and  £400,  and  am  allowed  to  cherish  the 
reasonable  hope  of  a  foundation  being  laid  (in  the  auxiliary  so- 
ciety instituted  and  completely  formed  at  Dublin)  of  much  future 
benefit  to  the  parent  society  in  London.  These  things,  with  the 
assurance  conveyed  to  mc  of  the  peace,  and,  I  hope,  spiritual 
prosperity,  of  my  dear  people,  have  awakened  a  spirit  of  un- 
feigned gratitude,  this  morning,  in  my  heart,  and  disposed  me  to 
write  this  scrawl  to  my  best  friend  on  earth,  to  make  her  partaker 
of  my  joy,  and  augment  her  pious  gratitude  to  the  God  of  all 
our  mercies.  The  only  thing  which  diminishes  my  satisfaction 
is  the  disappointment  of  my  desire  and  hope  of  visiting  the  north 
of  Ireland.      But  I  have  not  utterly  abandoned  the  idea,  though 


200  TOUR   TO    IRELAND. 

you  may  be  well  assured  I  will  do  nothing  rashly  or  unadvisedly. 
You  will  see  how  cautiously  I  have  expressed  myself  in  the  en- 
closed letter,  of  which  I  sent  off  about  one  hundred,  yesterday,  to 
the  different  ministers  in  the  northern  counties.  Little  money,  I 
well  know,  is  to  be  had  in  several  congregations ;  not  twenty 
shillings  could  be  expected  this  year,  when  for  some  weeks 
there  was  almost  a  famine,  before  the  potatoes  were  fit  to  be  used- 
But  money  was  not  my  chief  aim.  The  great  object  is  to  impress 
on  the  minds  of  good  men  a  sense  of  the  sacred  nature,  and  infinite 
importance  of  sending  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen ;  to  awaken  a 
spirit  of  prayer ;  and  to  institute  small  fellowships,  or  penny  so" 
cieties,  among  the  young  ;  and  thus  prepare  the  people  for  afford- 
ing pecuniary  aid  on  a  future  occasion.  It  was  on  this  my  heart 
was  set,  and  from  this  it  will  not  easily  be  diverted  ;  though 
alas !  as  to  personal  labors  and  exertions,  I  may  truly  say,  with 
Dr.  Young,  that 

'  Guilt  chills  my  zeal,  and  age  benumbs  my  powers.' 

Yet,  if  ever  a  cause  demanded  the  unceasing  application  of  apos- 
tolical faculties  and  a  seraph's  ardor,  it  is  the  cause  of  sending  the 
Bible  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Let  me  crave  the  aid  of  your 
prayers,  my  dearest  woman,  and  let  me  beseech  you  not  to  think? 
that  in  this  pursuit  I  am  unduly  forgetful  of  the  interest  of  my  own 
dear  family  and  church.  My  own  heart  does  not  condemn  me ;  and 
I  hope  that  Divine  Providence  will  graciously  make  up  any  loss 
which  our  dear or  any  of  the  other  children  may  have  sus- 
tained by  my  absence.  You  are  before  my  eyes,  and  I  do  not 
know  that  I  have  ever  gone  to  the  Throne  of  Grace,  and  forgotten 
you  and  my  dear  people.  Pray  for  me.  Greatly  do  I  need  an  in- 
terest in  your  prayers,  and  your  prayers  offered  up  through  the  Ad- 
vocate will  not  ascend  in  vain. 

"  Every  kind  care  has  been  taken  of  me  in  Dublin  ;  so  that  by 
Dr.  Roe's  medicine,  and  my  landlady's  motherly  attention,  the  com- 
plaint has  entirely  abated  ;  and  I  hope  my  constitution  will  eventu- 
ally be  improved  by  it. 

"We  heard  of  Mr.  Jack's  arrival  at  Holyhead  on  this  day 
week ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  day  (for  the  wind  is  feeble  and 
not  very  fair)  I  hope  to  be  able  to  raise  my  Ebenezer  in  the  isle 
of  Anglesea  also  to  the  Jehovah  of  the  Christians,  where  the  an- 
cient Druids  for  ages  reared  their  altars  of  stone,  and  on  them 
offered  sacrifices  of -men  to  their  Molochs.     O  !  the  blessed  change 


TOUR    TO    IRELAND.  201 

on  human  hearts  which  the  Gospel  produces,  when  we  honestly 
surrender  our  souls  to  its  purifying  influence  ! 

"  But  it  freshens,  and  I  can  scarcely  finish  the  sentence.  I  wish 
you  may  be  able  to  decipher  what  I  have  scrawled.  I  shall  for- 
give the  breeze  that  brings  me  nearer  to  you  and  my  dear  children 
and  people,  when  it  has  allowed  me  to  add  that  I  ever  am,  my  dear- 
est Mary,  most  affectionately  yours, 

"Alexander  Waugh. 

"  P.  S.  Love  to  Mr.  Young,  the  ciders,  and  all— all." 


The  collections  procured  by  him  and  Dr.  Jack,  in  Ireland, 
amounted  to  £393  :  12:  8.  On  his  way  to  Ireland,  he  had 
preached  and  collected  in  the  west  of  England  for  one  month  ; 
and  on  his  return,  he  was  employed  in  the  same  manner  dur- 
ing another  month,  till  Sept.  10,  when  he  had  collected 
£494  :  2  :  10  ;  so  that  within  three  months  (during  which, 
notwithstanding  his  illness  in  Dublin,  he  had  delivered  up- 
wards of  sixty  sermons)  £887  :  15 :  0  had  been  obtained  for 
the  benefit  of  the  society.  This  money  he  remitted  to  the 
directors,  with  the  following  note  : — 

"In  presenting  to  the  directors  of  the  Missionary  Society 
the  following  statement  of  the  oblations  which  the  churches 
he  had  the  opportunity  of  visiting  very  willingly  made  for 
building  the  house  of  the  Lord,  Mr.  Waugh  craves  permission, 
in  this  public  manner,  to  convey  the  warm  acknowledgments 
of  his  heart  to  all  his  dear  brethren,  for  their  kind  reception 
of  his  visit,  and  their  ready  co-operation  in  promoting  its  im- 
portant object.  To  the  reverend  the  Synod  of  Ulster,  and  to 
the  reverend  the  Associate  Synod  of  Ireland,  his  obligations 
are  great,  for  the  liberal  countenance,  notwithstanding  the 
pressure  of  the  times,  which  they  gave  to  his  mission  ;  and 
though  he  was  prevented  by  indisposition  from  availing  him- 
self of  the  permission  granted  to  him,  he  looks  forward  with 
assured  hope  to  the  period  when  the  appeal  will  be  made, 
and  made  with  success,  for  the  sympathy  and  succor  of  the 
numerous  churches  under  their  care,  in  behalf  of  the  long, 
long-neglected  sons  of  the  strangers.  The  Christian  hospi- 
9* 


202  TOUR   THROUGH   THE    WEST    AND 

tality  of  the  friends  and  the  ministers  of  religion  in  Dublin 
and  its  vicinity,  the  sacred  warmth  with  which  their  minds 
welcomed  and  embraced  the  objects,  the  readiness  manifested 
in  forming  the  missionary  committee,  together  with  the  libe- 
rality of  the  contributions  in  so  short  a  space  of  time, — all 
demand,  and  in  the  fullest  measure  have,  the  cordial  gratitude 
which  so  much  goodness  must  ever  secure.  He  must  be  per- 
mitted to  add,  that  much  of  his  personal  comfort  and  success 
was,  under  God,  owing  to  the  brotherly  kindness  of  the  Rev. 
Robert  Jack,  of  Manchester,  whose  very  acceptable  ministra- 
tions in  Dublin,  and  prudent  counsels,  greatly  contributed  to 
the  general  result." 

After  continuing  at  home  for  little  more  than  three 
weeks,  he  set  out  on  a  new  mission,  along  with  the  Rev. 
Rowland  Hill  and  the  Rev.  George  Clayton,  to  form  an 
auxiliary  society  at  Bristol.  In  a  letter  addressed  to  the 
compiler  of  these  papers,  he  gives  the  following  account  of  the 
favorable  result  of  this  short  excursion  : — "  Our  journey  to 
Bristol  on  the  6th  instant  was  very  successful  as  to  the  pro- 
motion of  an  auxiliary  society,  and  die  amount  of  the  money 
collected  was  £900.  At  Plymouth,  the  week  following,  our 
friends  who  went  from  Bristol,  and  tarried  over  the  Sabbath, 
collected  £200.  Bristol  is  singularly  well  privileged  for  evan- 
gelical Ministers,  both  in  the  Establishment  and  among  the 
Dissenters ;  and  there  are  few  places  in  England  where  the 
social  tempers  of  the  Christian  character  abound  more.  Vvre 
found  it  so  during  the  week  we  were  there."  A  sermon 
which  was  preached  by  Dr.  Waugh  at  the  formation  of  the 
auxiliary  society  established  at  Bristol  on  this  occasion,  from 
Isaiah  liii.  10,  has  been  characterized,  by  one  who  heard  it,  as 
"  full  of  that  flow  of  soul,  and  those  '  burning  words,'  whicli 
rendered  his  ministry  so  interesting  and  blessed."  "This 
discourse,"  he  adds,  "  was  certainly  a  fine  exhibition  of 
evangelical  truth,  in  which  the  sublime  and  beautiful 
were  eminently  displayed  ;  and  thus  did  it  equally  de- 
light the  learned  and  the  illiterate,  who  had  any  spiritual 
discernment  of  the  things   which  are  excellent."     The  late 


NORTH    OF    ENGLAND.  203 

Rev.  Robert  Hall,  whose  favorable  opinion  may  well  be 
esteemed  far  beyond  ordinary  praise,  speaking  of  this  ser- 
mon, which  he  heard  delivered,  said,  "That  sermon  was  one 
of  the  most  brilliant  I  ever  listened  to.  I  think  I  never 
heard  a  discourse  containing  so  many  brilliant  and  beautiful 
things."  A  friend  remarking  that  its  fame  had  reached  him, 
and  that  it  had  been  preached  somewhere  in  Scotland,  Mr. 
Hall  replied,  "  I  doubt  not  but  that  it  has  travelled  in  the 
greatness  of  its  strength ;"  and  afterwards  characterized  it 
"  as  distinguished,  not  by  continuity  of  thought,  or  by  a 
chain  of  reasoning,  but  by  exuberant  imagery  and  splendid 
thought." 

To  the  great  work  of  evangelizing  the  heathen  the  energies 
of  his  mind  were  incessantly  devoted.  Although  he  had 
many  important  avocations  to  occupy  him  at  home,  while 
his  health  was  by  no  means  in  a  confirmed  state,  we  find 
him  engaged  in  the  subsequent  summer  in  a  new  missionary 
tour.  This  will  appear  from  the  following  letter  addressed  to 
the  writer : — 

"  Manchester,  August  7,  1813. 

"  On  my  return  last  September  from  Ireland,  I  found  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-five  families  on  my  list,  to  be  visited  in  the 
months  of  the  year  that  then  remained.  The  weather  set  in  wet 
and  cold  in  October ;  and,  with  all  my  efforts,  it  was  not  till  the 
beginning  of  July  that  I  could  close  the  pastoral  visitation  of  the 
preceding  year.  This,  with  the  lengthened  time  of  my  absence 
— three  months — and  the  still  broken  state  of  my  health,  with 
the  opposition  to  the  measure  by  my  own  family  and  relations, 
induced  me  to  resist  the  solicitations  of  our  friends  in  Ireland, 
and  of  the  directors  of  the  Missionary  Society  at  home,  to  renew 
my  visit  to  that  country,  earnestly  desirous  as  I  was  to  renew  it. 
We  have  prevailed  on  Mr.  Jack  to  go  over,  in  company  with  Mr. 
Tracy,  the  corresponding  secretary  of  the  society.  They  set  off 
for  Cookstown,  county  of  Tyrone,  by  Carlisle,  and  are  expected  to 
tarry  four  or  five  weeks  in  the  country.  We  hope  great  good 
will  be  done  by  their  ministrations.  There  is  an  auxiliary  soci- 
ety already  formed  at  Cookstown,  of  which  Lord  Caledon  is  pa- 
tron, and  our  minister,  Mr.  Thomas  Millar,  secretary.  They  sent 
us  £50  some  months  ago. 


204      TOUR  THROUGH  THE  NORTH  OF  ENGLAND. 

"Unable  to  visit  Ireland  this  season,  I  agreed  to  accompany 
Messrs.  Bogue,  Burder,  and  Thorp  of  Bristol,  to  Liverpool,  Leeds, 
Newcastle-on-Tyne,  and  Hull,  in  order  to  form  and  organize 
auxiliary  societies  in  aid  of  the  parent  institution.  We  left  home 
on  Monday.  On  Wednesday  and  Thursday  the  meetings  were 
held  at  Liverpool,  in  the  chapels  of  Dr.  Stewart,  Messrs.  Charrier 
and  Raffles,  and  in  the  Welsh  chapel.  The  collections  amounted 
to  £247,  a  large  sum,  when  we  consider  the  pressure  of  the  times, 
and  that  this  has  been  our  first  anniversary  there. 

"  I  have  tarried  here,  in  the  absence  of  Mr.  Jack,  to  administer 
the  holy  sacrament  to-morrow,  and  propose  on  Monday  to  go 
forward  to  Leeds.  I  wish  to  return  home  from  Leeds,  as  I  could 
not  bear  the  idea  of  advancing  to  within  sixty  or  eighty  miles  of  my 
relations  and  turning  back,  while  I  foresaw  that  I  must  tarry 
two  or  three  weeks  in  Scotland,  if  I  at  all  should  touch  its 
territories ;  and  that  I  could  not  do  this  year.  But  I  cherish  the 
hope  of  spending  two  months  with  you  all,  next  summer,  when 
I  shall  have  a  regular  supply  from  the  Synod.  We  look  to  be 
at  Newcastle  this  day  week,  and  shall  return  towards  Hull  on 
the  Monday  evening  or  Tuesday  morning.  I  shall  have  supply 
from  the  London  ministers,  and  in  the  evening  from  Mr.  Beattie  of 
Kincardine,  for  the  two  Sabbaths  of  my  absence." 

In  1814  he  made  a  tour  to  Dorsetshire  and  Wiltshire,  and 
another  to  Birmingham,  Shrewsbury,  Chester,  and  Manchester. 
Of  these,  however,  we  do  not  find  among  his  papers  any  mem- 
oranda of  particular  interest. 

About  this  period  he  was  commissioned  to  present  to  the 
College  Library  of  Edinburgh,  on  behalf  of  the  Missionary 
Society,  a  copy  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  Luke,  and  afterwards  the 
entire  New  Testament,  translated  into  the  Chinese  language 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Morrison.  This  gentleman,  whose  eminent 
merits  both  as  a  missionary  and  an  oriental  scholar  are  now 
universally  known,  having,  when  residing  in  London,  been  a 
member  of  Dr.  Waugh's  congregation,  and  enjoyed  a  large 
share  of  his  paternal  superintendence,  it  may  be  easily  ima- 
gined that  his  old  pastor  derived  no  ordinary  satisfaction  in 
being  enabled  to  deposit  in  the  literary  treasury  of  his  an- 
cient alma  mater  these  interesting  offerings  of  Christian  zeal 


LETTERS    FROM    DR.    BAIRD.  205 

and  industry.  The  following  letters  on  this  subject  will  be 
perused  with  pleasure,  addressed  to  Dr.  Waugh  by  the  vene- 
rnble  Principal  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  who  has  ob- 
tained great  and  well-merited  celebrity  by  his  indefatigable 
zeal  in  establishing  schools,  and  diffusing  the  knowledge  of 
the  holy  Scriptures  through  the  Highlands  and  Western  Isles 
of  Scotland : — 

"  Edinburgh,  March  14,  1814. 

"  Rev.  Sir, — I  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter, 
accompanying  the  translation  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  Luke,  by  Mr. 
Morrison,  into  the  Chinese  language ;  and,  in  the  name  of  the 
Senatus  Academicus,  I  request  you  to  accept  their  warm  thanks 
for  the  donation  of  that  translation  to  the  University  library. 
The  book  forms  a  valuable  addition  to  our  collection,  and  the 
name  of  the  donor  will  stand  recorded  on  the  list  of  obliging  bene- 
factors to  our  seminary. 

"  Such  testimonies  as  you  have  now  given  of  grateful  regard 
to  our  alma  male?-,  are  always  extremely  acceptable  from  old 
alumni.  Permit  me  to  say,  that  personal  feelings  are  mingled 
with  those  of  an  official  kind,  when  I  return,  on  this  occasion, 
thanks  to  you  for  recollecting,  with  pleasure,  that  when  nearly 
in  the  commencement  of  my  academical  studies,  I  enjoyed  the 
advantage  of  being  for  a  short  time  a  member  of  the  same  de- 
bating society  with  you.  I  assure  you  that  I  still  remain,  with 
real  regard  and  esteem,  Reverend  Sir,  your  very  obedient  and 
faithful  servant, 

"  Geo.  H.  Baird." 

"  Ramsay  Lodge,  Edinburgh, 
January  4,  1815. 

"  Rev.  and  Dear  Sir, — I  have  had  the  honor  of  receiving  the 
Chinese  New  Testament  which  you  had  lately  the  goodness  to 
transmit.  Dr.  Campbell,  Mr.  Dickson,  jun.,  Dr.  Peddie,  and  Mr. 
Burder,  jun.,  took  the  trouble  of  attending  to  deliver  it  to  me, 
along  with  your  letter,  in  the  name  of  the  Missionary  Society. 

"  In  obedience  to  your  directions,  I  have  accordingly  laid  this 
very  interesting  work  before  the  Senalus  Academicus:  they  re- 
ceived it  with  lively  satisfaction ;  and  I  now  beg  leave,  by  their 
authority,  to  request  that  you  will  convey  to  the  Society  the  ex- 


206  LETTERS  FROM  DR.  BAIRD. 

pression  of  their  grateful  acknowledgments  for  this  distinguished 
donation. 

"As  to  myself,  I  have  full  confidence  in  the  favorable  testi- 
mony of  Sir  George  Staunton  as  to  the  competence  of  Mr.  Morri- 
son's qualifications  for  the  difficult  and  delicate  duty  he  has  un- 
dertaken ;  and,  under  this  impression,  I  cannot  avoid  adding,  that 
this  great  work  reflects  high  honor  on  the  Society  who  have 
employed  Mr.  Morrison,  and  on  Mr.  Morrison  himself.  In  pro- 
moting so  laudable  an  undertaking,  they  have  shown  most  en- 
lightened and  philanthropic  piety ;  and  he  has  merited  unmixed 
praise  for  unprecedented  zeal  and  perseverance.  The  scholar 
and  the  Christian  must  equally  derive  satisfaction  from  the  fact 
of  the  publication :  the  one  contemplates  it,  especially  when  ac- 
companied with  the  hope  of  a  Chinese  Dictionary  from  the  au- 
thor,* as  opening  a  new  channel  of  important  literary  knowledge  ; 
the  other,  as  preparing  the  means  of  access  for  the  blessings  of  the 
faith  of  Jesus  to  the  superstitious  inhabitants  of  an  immense  region 
of  the  globe. 

w  Permit  me,  Rev.  ana  dear  Sir,  to  offer  my  warmest  and  most 
sincere  thanks  to  yourself  for  the  obliging  terms  of  your  letter. 
Be  assured  that,  like  alma  maier  herself,  I  always  rejoice  in  the 
kindly  recollections  manifested  for  her  by  any  of  her  deserving 
sons. 

"  Accept  my  personal  good  wishes,  and  believe  me,  with  great 
regard  and  esteem,  Rev.  and  dear  Sir.,  your  very  faithful  and  obe- 
dient humble  servant, 

"Geo.  H.  Baird, 
"  Principal  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh." 

In  the  summer  of  1815,  he  was  deputed  by  the  Missionary 
Society  to  visit  Scotland.  Much  was  anticipated  from  his 
influence  upon  the  sympathies  of  his  countrymen,  and  these 
expectations,  notwithstanding  his  declining  health,  were  not 
disappointed.  His  labors  on  this  occasion  were  chiefly  con- 
fined to  the  pulpits  of  his  own  religious  connection  ;  and,  from 
the  great  weight  of  his  personal  character,  his  warm  and  elo- 
quent addresses  in  public,  and  his  courteous  and  conciliating 
manners  in  private  life,  the  collections  were  liberal  beyond 

*  The  Chinese  Dictionary  was  afterwards  presented  by  Dr.  Morrison. 


TOUR    IN    SCOTLAND.  20*7 

his  own  most  sanguine  expectations.  The  following  letters 
(the  first  addressed  to  his  friend,  the  Rev.  Robert  Hall,  of 
Kelso,  and  the  others  to  the  same  dear  relative  to  whom  we 
have  already  referred)  will  furnish  some  account  of  this  mis- 
sion, in  which  his  heart  was  peculiarly  interested  : — 

"  London,  March  25,  1815. 

"My  Dear  Brother, — Having  occasion  to  write  to  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Young,  I  requested  him  to  communicate  to  you,  and  such  of 
our  brethren  as  he  might  see,  the  desire  of  the  directors  of  the 
Missionary  Society  that  I  would  apply  to  our  ministers,  in  the 
course  of  the  summer,  for  permission  to  make  an  appeal  to  their 
congregations  in  behalf  of  the  poor  heathen.  They  are  desirous 
that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Slatterie  of  Chatham,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fletcher 
of  Blackburn,  should  accompany  me  from  Edinburgh  to  the 
north  and  the  west  parts  of  the  country.  I  fear  I  shall  be  un- 
able, through  the  debilitated  state  of  my  constitution,  to  accom- 
pany them  beyond  Fife  on  the  north,  and  Stirling  on  the  west. 
I  am  very  anxious  to  spend  some  time  in  the  midst  of  my  few 
surviving  relations,  and  of  my  brethren  in  the  ministry,  on 
Twecdside,  and  to  enjoy,  for  the  benefit  of  my  health,  a  little 
quiet  at  Berwick,  for  sea-bathing.  I  have  requested  our  brother, 
Mr.  Balmer,  to  supply  my  people  for  the  three  months  of  June, 
July,  and  August ;  and  have  very  earnestly  to  desire  that  you  will 
lay  my  desire  before  the  Presbytery  at  their  first  meeting,  and 
kindly  interest  yourself  in  my  behalf,  that  they  would  procure, 
at  the  meeting  of  the  Synod,  a  supply  of  probationers  for  Berwick 
during  that  period  ;  assuring  the  Presbytery,  at  the  same  time, 
that  I  shall  do  the  utmost  in  my  power  to  supply  Berwick  on 
my  return,  and  that  I  wish  not  to  remain  a  single  day  unem- 
ployed. It  is  probably  the  last  journey  and  labor  of  this  kind 
which  I  shall  ever  be  permitted  to  perform  for  Him  who  has  done 
so  much  for  me ! 

"It  is  proposed  that  we  meet  at  Edinburgh  on  the  1st  of  June  ; 
go  north  by  the  cast  to  Inverness ;  and  return  by  Perth,  Dun- 
fermline, Falkirk,  Stirling,  Glasgow,  and  Dumfries, — whence  my 
Independent  friends  go  south,  and  homeward  through  the  west  of 
England. 

"  I  shall  count  the  days  till  I  hear  from  you.  I  beg  to  be 
kindly  remembered  to  all  our  co-presbyters.  The  overwhelm- 
ing news  from  the  Continent  swallows  up  everything  else.     Mrs. 


208  TOUR    IN    SCOTLAND. 

W.  unites  with  mc  in  affectionate  regards.  Every  blessing,  my 
dear  friend,  be  in  your  cup.  I  look  forward  with  pleasure  to  the 
time  of  spending  a  week  with  you,  and  remain  your  most  affec- 
tionate faithful  friend  and  brother, 

"  A.  Waugh." 


"  The  Swin,  May  26,  1815. 

"By  the  care  of  Providence,  we  are  thus  far  on  our  journey — 
a  sea  too  smooth  for  much  progress.  The  conveniences  are  sadly 
inferior  to  what  I  should  have  had  on  board  a  Leith  ship  ;  but 
there  is  one  great  comfort  here  which  I  should  not  probably  have 
enjoyed  in  the  other  vessel, — the  comfort  of  paying  some  atten- 
tion to  poor  Mr. ,  Mrs. ,  and  a  young  woman  sent  down 

by  the  Scots  Hall,  and  so  ill  of  consumption  as  to  be  scarcely 
able  to  sit  up.  Little  do  poor  young  women  think,  on  leaving 
their  own  healthy  fields  for  London,  what  privations  they  sub- 
mit to — what  positive  ills  they  expose  themselves  to !  I  hope 
the  children  will  all  be  as  much  with  you  during  my  absence  as 

may  be  convenient  to  themselves  and  to  you.      In  I   trust 

you  will  find  everything  that  is  kind,  confiding,  frank,  and 
filial." 


"  Langriggs,  June  14,  1815. 

"  Yesterday  I  left  Edinburgh,  and  arrived  at  Bathgate,  where  I 
preached  in  the  Relief  meeting-house.  This  is  the  place  where  my 
worthy  predecessor,  the  Rev.  Archibald  Hall,  was  settled.  Messrs. 
John  Brown  and  Fleming  came  to  encourage  me,  as  the  Auld 
Light  prevails  here,  the  importance  of  which  appears  to  them  of 
such  moment  that  not  one  of  them  would  come  near  us.  Can 
those  dispositions  be  of  God  which  seem  to  forbid  us  to  send  the 
Gospel  to  the  heathen,  while  they  themselves  will  not  move  a  step 
in  the  merciful  career  ? 

"  This  place  is  elevated  ;  the  wind  to-day  is  easterly  and  cold> 
but  I  am  sitting  by  a  good  feat  fire,  and  very  comfortable.  *  * 
*  *  There  has  been  a  considerable  quantity  of  rain  last 
night,  and  the  country  hereabouts  looks  like  a  paradise.  My 
health  is  good,  and  my  strength  hitherto  suitable  to  my  labors. 
I  regret  much  the  perpetual  hurry  I  am  in,  which  prevents  me 
from  writing  to  the  children  as  I  otherwise  would.     I  am  tbiiged 


TOUR    IN    SCOTLAND.  209 

to  seize  a  moment  as  it  comes  in  my  way,  and  mark  down  the 
first  thoughts  that  present  themselves  to  my  mind.  It  is  time  to 
go.  I  shall  say  something  more  to-morrow  morning  before  ten 
o'clock,  when  the  coach  calls  to  carry  me  west  to  Glasgow.  Good 
night." 

"  Greenock,  June  20,  1815. 

"It  will  gratify  you  to  learn  that,  by  the  kindness  of  Provi- 
dence, I  was  enabled  to  preach  three  times  on  Sabbath  in  Glas- 
gow. Whatever  was  needful  in  the  way  of  hospitable  attention 
to  my  wants,  was  most  abundantly  supplied  by  our  Christian 
friends. 

"  Yesterday  we  set  off  in  a  steamboat  for  this  place.  Alexander 
was  at  Helensburgh,  and  must  describe  the  scene  of  our  passage 
to  you,  especially  at  the  place  where  Dumbarton  Castle  comes  in 
sight.  The  view  last  night,  from  Mrs.  Hopkin's  house,  of  the 
town,  the  frith,  the  highland  hills  in  the  distance,  was,  at  least  to 
my  mind,  most  sublime  and  interesting. 

"  We  formed  here  last  evening  an  auxiliary  society,  and  met 
with  every  encouragement  from  the  ministers  and  their  principal 
people." 

"  Dunfermline,  Friday,  June  23. 

"  Met  with  Messrs.  W.  Smart,  Ellis,  and  other  friends,  at  Pais- 
ley. Preached,  and  returned  that  night  to  Glasgow.  The  collec- 
tions, in  Mr.  Kidston's,  Dr.  Dick's,  and  Mr.  Love's,  where  I 
preached,  were  truly  liberal, — £61,  £74,  and  £67.  On  Wednes- 
day I  arrived  at  Mr.  Smart's,  Stirling;  and,  after  a  good  sleep,  of 
which  I  have  seldom  found  my  tabernacle  in  greater  need,  arrived 
yesterday,  through  Alloa  and  Kincardine,  at  this  hospitable  habita- 
tion. Last  night  the  congregation  collected  £38  :  10  :  6.  I  mean 
to  rest  here  till  Tuesday. 

"  Bless  God  for  my  success  in  the  cause  of  our  divine  Redeemer 
to  whom  our  obligations  are  boundless.  Everywhere  kind  friends, 
good  collections,  attentive  and  numerous  congregations." 

"  Lariiburn,  August  16,  1815. 
"  This  day  completes  my  threescore  and  first  year.     Assist  me 
my  dearest  woman,  with  your  most  earnest  prayers,  that  I  may 
spend  the  short  evening  that  remains  in  faithful  labors  towards 


210  TOUR    IN    SCOTLAND. 

my  dear  people,  and  in  growing  kindness  to  yon,  and  the  best 
interests  of  the  children  whom  God  has  given  and  preserved  to  us. 
Say  everything  that  is  affectionate  to  them  all  who  are  near  you. 
I  need  not  say  how  much  I  long  to  be  in  Wells  Street  pulpit ;  and 
how  happy  and  easy  my  mind  has  been,  that  in  my  absence  it  has 
been  so  well  and  acceptably  filled.  I  have  been  walking  about  the 
farm  all  this  morning,  and  feel  strong  and  well.  Indeed,  yesterday 
and  to-day  are  the  first  two  days  that  I  have  been  able  to  call  my 
own  since  I  came  to  Scotland." 


"  Kelso,  August  21,  1815. 

"  God,  our  gracious  Father,  continues  to  keep  open,  to  my 
claims  on  their  sympathy  and  liberality,  the  hearts  of  the  Christian 
people.  I  hope  an  interest  is  created  in  the  best  affections  of  their 
souls,  in  behalf  of  the  poor  heathen,  under  the  influence  of  which 
they  will  bear  them  on  their  hearts  daily  before  the  Throne  of 
Grace,  and  '  give  God  no  rest  till  he  arise  and  make  Jerusalem  a 
praise  in  the  whole  earth.' 

"  On  Saturday  I  came  with  my  brother  on  horseback  to  Stitchell, 
where  I  preached  to  the  congregation  in  which  from  my  earliest 
years  I  had  been  brought  up,  probably  for  the  last  time,  on  the  fore- 
noon of  yesterday,  and  collected  j£l7.  The  congregation  here 
gave  me  last  night  £38.  As  the  night  was  fine,  we  worshipped 
on  the  green.  I  have  been  calling  this  morning  on  some  of  my 
old  friends. 

"  On  Wednesday  I  go  by  the  Edinburgh  coach  to  Wooler,  where 
I  expect  to  preach  on  the  Thursday. 

"  Since  I  came  to  the  south  of  Scotland,  I  have  felt  as  a  man 
walking  among  the  tombs.  What  a  blank  does  every  village 
present  to  my  view  !  I  myself  must  soon  add  to  the  number. 
By  the  rain,  after  the  horses  were  ready,  we  were  prevented 
from  visiting  Gordon,  the  place  of  our  fathers'  sepulchres ;  and 
I  fear  I  must  entirely  forego  that  melancholy  gratification. 
When  in  Edinburgh,  at  the  meeting  of  Synod,  I  shall  call  on 

Mrs. ,  and  represent '  sneedy  condition  to  her.     I  find  it 

sad  up-hill  work  to  procure  assistance  for  the  destitute,  who  have 
no  claim  on  the  succor  of  others  but  what  the  Gospel  gives 
them." 


TOUR   IN    SCOTLAND.  211 

"  Kelso,  August  22. 
"  We  are  going  over  to  my  good  old  friend  Mr.  Roberton's  to 
breakfast  at  Roxburg  Castle,  in  company  with  Mr.  Bell  and  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Lundie,  a  worthy  minister  of  the  establishment,  who  has 
shown  me  all  the  countenance  he  could.  The  scenery  around 
Kelso  is  exceedingly  beautiful  at  this  season  of  the  year,  and  I 
have  this  day  a  relish  gratefully  to  enjoy  it." 

"  Berwick-on-Tweed,  Sept.  2,  1815. 

"The   affectionate   deportment  of    has   also   very  much 

overcome  me.  O !  may  the  gracious  Lord  keep  his  arms  around 
him.  I  feel  a  trembling  of  heart  about  our  dear  children,  which 
I  know  to  be  wrong,  but  cannot  avoid.  The  success  also  which 
God  has  given  to  my  poor  labors,  and  the  state  of  my  health, 
all  combine  this  morning,  somehow,  to  weaken  my  mind.  I  must 
go.  Farewell,  my  dearest  woman.  The  eternal  God  be  your 
refuge." 

"  On  Board  the  Buccleugh,  off  Colchester, 
Friday  morning,  Sept.  12,  1815. 
"  Since  I  came  on  board,  I  have  had  leisure  to  look  back  on  my 
journey,  and  have  abundant  reason  for  thankfulness  to  God.  My 
health,  especially  since  I  was  delivered  from  the  late  hours  and  hot 
suppers  of  Scotland,  has  been  good.  The  kindness  of  all  our  min- 
isters and  their  elders  has  greatly  encouraged  me.  I  find  that  the 
congregations  which  I  have  visited,  and  they  are  almost  all  of  our 
own  body,  have  given  me  about  £1400.  I  never  can  be  sufficiently 
thankful  to  God,  who  hath  inspired  their  hearts,  nor  to  them,  who 
have  yielded  to  the  force  of  truth  and  the  inspiration  of  Heaven. 
A  thousand-fold  into  their  own  bosoms  may  their  liberality  be 
returned!" 

The  following  extract  of  a  letter,  forwarded  to  ns  by  a 
friend  in  Berwick,  will,  we  think,  furnish  the  reader  with  a 
key  to  Dr.  Waugh's  general  success  as  an  advocate  for  the 
missionary  cause,  and  to  his  extraordinary  power  in  touch- 
ing the  sympathies  of  his  own  countrymen  in  his  public  dis- 
courses. It  affords,  moreover,  a  pleasing  illustration  of  his 
mode  of  availing  himself,  with  singular  felicity,  of  such  histor- 
ical or  traditional   allusions  as  were  naturally  suggested  by 


212  TOUR   IN    SCOTLAND. 

the  localities  of  the  scene  where  he  happened  to  be  placed ; 
and  this  not  in  the  vulgarly  popular  style,  offensive  alike  to 
good  taste  and  to  reverential  feeling,  which  tends  to  degrade 
divine  things  by  mean  similitudes ;  but  in  a  spirit  essen- 
tially elevated  and  poetical,  although,  when  addressed  to 
a  rustic  audience,  generally  simple  and  even  homely  in  ex- 
pression. The  letter  now  quoted  was  written  by  a  plain 
Scottish  peasant,  an  elder  of  a  Seceding  congregation  on 
Tweedside  where  Dr,  Wangh  had  preached,  and  was  trans- 
mitted to  Berwick  with  the  sum  collected  on  that  occasion 
for  the  missionary  cause.  Exclusive  of  the  subject,  it  is  not 
devoid  of  interest,  as  an  illustration,  both  as  regards  sentiment 
and  language,  of  the  incalculable  advantages  derived  by  the 
people  of  Scotland  from  the  general  diffusion  of  education  and 
religious  instruction : — 

"  I  cannot  conclude  without  giving  you  a  note  or  two  of  our 
sermon.  Dr.  Waugh,  I  think,  preaches  the  Gospel  in  all  its 
simplicity  and  in  all  its  majesty.  His  very  fine  appearance, 
his  animated  eye,  his  familiar  yet  dignified  style,  are  all  highly 
impressive.  Our  text  was  the  strayed  sheep.  This  led  the 
Doctor  to  make  many  fine  pastoral  remarks  on  hills  and  dales, 
bogs  and  marshes,  brakes  and  shaws ;  and  how  the  poor  wan- 
dering sheep,  although  it  should  be  hunted  by  the  prowling 
wolf,  and  watched  by  the  cunning  fox, — and  although  it  should 
stray  into  the  wildest  wastes  of  Lammermuir,  or  even  ascend 
to  the  highest  summit  of  the  Cheviot  fells,  yet  it  must  still 
be  brought  back  into  the  fold  by  the  good  shepherd  :  even  so 
our  Great  Shepherd  reigns,  and  his  unsuffering  kingdom  yet 
shall  come.  The  Doctor  then  introduced  some  very  striking 
remarks  from  the  sermons  and  parables  of  our  Saviour,  par- 
ticularly on  the  prodigal  son,  which  touched  as  it  were  a  spring 
in  our  souls,  brought  floods  of  tears  into  our  eyes,  and  moist- 
ened every  cheek. 

"But  what  do  you  think  the  Doctor  did  next?  Why, 
he  pulled  down  all  our  old  Border  keeps  and  castles ;  he  dried 
up  the  river  Tweed,  and  said  it  was  no  longer  a  barrier  be- 
tween the  two  sister  nations ;  that  there  were  no  longer  Scotch 


TUUK    IX    SCOTLAND.  213 

and  English,  but  one  British  people,  greater  and  happier  than 
either.  lie  then  called  up  many  of  our  ancient  feudal  heroes 
from  their  long  sleep, — our  Percies,  Douglases,  Howards, 
Homes,  &c. — and  made  them  tread  the  scene  for  our  edifica- 
tion. He  also  passed  some  encomiums  on  the  improvements 
of  our  country,  particularly  on  our  agriculture ;  and  praised 
the  half-creating  hand  of  man.  And  all  this,  he  said,  was 
owing  to  the  benign  influence  of  the  Gospel ;  for  without  the 
Gospel  we  should  this  day  have  been  but  a  horde  of  ferocious 
savages. 

"  In  the  last  place,  he  took  a  view  of  the  heathen  world. 
He  told  us  the  heathen  were  still  by  far  the  majority  of  the 
race  of  man, — without  Bibles,  without  useful  arts  and  sciences, 
and  almost  without  laws,  human  or  divine ;  but  this  their 
extreme  wretchedness  we  might  in  some  measure  relieve,  and 
he  called  on  us  to  do  so  according  to  our  ability,  by  giving  a 
little  of  our  substance  to  support  the  cause  of  Christian  mis- 
sions, and  by  remembering  them  often  in  our  prayers,  so  that 
the  heathen  may  hear  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  all  the  kings 
of  the  earth  behold  his  glory." 

This  report  of  one  of  his  sermons,  by  a  plain,  unlettered 
pen,  exhibits  to  the  reader  very  clearly  the  means  by  which 
Dr.  Waugh,  in  the  advocacy  of  his  great  cause,  reached  so 
readily  the  hearts  of  his  auditors,  and  caused  even  the  most 
frugal  of  his  careful  countrymen  to  pour  forth  freely  their  of- 
ferings into  the  lap  of  Christian  philanthropy.  He  earned 
with  him  to  London  contributions  to  the  amount  of  £1420, 
collected  almost  exclusively  in  the  churches  of  the  Secession, 
and  from  the  hands  of  the  middle  class  and  rustic  population  * 

*The  following  list  of  places  where  sermons  were  preached  and  con- 
tributions collected  on  his  journey,  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  extent 
and  success  of  these  missionary  ministrations  : — 


June  4,  Dunbar. 

5,  Haddington. 

7,  Musselburgh. 

8,  Pennycuik. 

9,  Quceiist'tiry. 


June  11,   Edinburgh  (three  con- 
gregations). 

13,  Bathgate. 

14,  Whitburn. 

15,  East  Cfaldei 


214 


WELSH    SERMON. 


In  the  years  1S16,  181*7,  and  1818,  Dr.  Waugh  made 
short  tours  for  the  cause  of  missions  through  different  parts  of 
England. 

We  insert  the  following  graphic  description,  in  a  letter, 
dated  Chester,  August  24, 181G  :— 

"  I  slept  at  Oxford  on  Monday  night,  at  Birmingham  on 
Tuesday,  and  at  Oswestry  on  Wednesday.  We  reached 
Llanfyllin,  in  Montgomeryshire,  on  Thursday  at  two  o'clock. 
I  preached  a  word  in  the  afternoon  in  a  field  to  a  Welsh  con- 
gregation, who  most  of  them  understood  English.  It  was 
Stitchell  Brae  on  a  smaller  scale.  We  met  in  the  evening, 
and  formed  an  Auxiliary  Missionary  Society  for  North 
Wales.  We  had  a  sermon  in  Welsh  from  Mr.  Jones,  to  be- 
tween twelve  and  eighteen  hundred  people.  The  singing 
was  the  most  heart- touching  I  ever  heard — wild  and  plain- 
tive as  '  The  Martyrs,'  rising  and  falling  like  the  hills  around 


June  18, 

18, 
22, 
27, 
28, 
29, 
July  2, 

6, 

6, 

7, 

7, 

9, 

12, 

13, 

14, 

16, 

16, 

17, 

18, 
19, 
24, 


Glasgow  (three 

gregations). 

Paisley. 

Dunfermline. 

Inverkeithing. 

Kinross. 

Newburgh. 

Aberdeen   (two 

gregations). 

Lochgelly. 

Kirkaldy. 

Kennoway. 

Dysart. 

Dalkeith. 

Limekilns. 

Borrowtonness. 

Denny. 

Falkirk. 

Stirling. 

Kincardine  (two 

gregations). 

Alloa. 

Dunblane. 

Hawick. 


July  24, 

Selkirk. 

25, 

Galashiels. 

26, 

Stow. 

27, 

Lauder. 

30, 

Newtown. 

30, 

Jedburgh. 

31, 

Oxenham. 

Aug.  2, 

Eckford. 

G, 

Coldingham. 

6, 

Ayton. 

8, 

North  Berwick. 

9, 

East  Linton. 

10, 

Stockbridge. 

13, 

Coldstream. 

13, 

Dunse. 

14, 

Kelso. 

20, 

Stitchell. 

24, 

Wooler  (two  congre 

gations). 

27, 

Tweedmouth. 

27, 

Horndean. 

27, 

Berwick. 

30, 

Alnwick. 

Sept.  3, 

Berwick  (twice). 

SECOND  TOUK  IN  SCOTLAND.  215 

us,  and  pure  from  the  heart,  I  believe,  as  the  air  which  they 
breathe.  Though  I  did  not  understand  a  single  word  of  Mr. 
Jones'  sermon,  there  was  so  much  animation  and  feeling  in 
his  countenance  and  the  tones  of  his  voice,  and  such  sympa- 
thetic concordance  in  the  varied  aspect  of  the  congregation, 
that  I  could  know  when  he  was  at  the  Cross,  and  when  be- 
fore the  Lamb  in  the  midst  of  the  throne.  Over  the  joys 
and  griefs  of  the  people  he  seemed  to  exercise  entire  sove- 
reignty. Two  or  three  times  I  apprehended  that  some  of 
them,  in  the  ecstacy  of  their  hearts,  would  open  aloud,  as 
their  manner  sometimes  has  been,  with  the  Hallelujah.  Wo 
Saxons  have  really  little  more  life  than  oysters,  when  com- 
pared with  the  holy  vivacity  and  tender  feeling  of  the  Welsh. 
About  150  dined  together  after  the  two  morning  sermons — 
a  must  substantial  dinner,  and  a  ewe-milk  cheese  as  large  al- 
most as  the  upper  millstone  of  Gordon  mill,  and  all  for 
eighteen-pencc  a-head.  Bread  and  cheese  were  advertised 
by  Dr.  Lewes,  professor  of  divinity,  from  the  pulpit,  for  those 
who  could  not  afford  to  pay  anything.  The  dinner  served 
up  in  a  large  room,  the  oaken  pillars  and  joists  of  which 
seemed  to  have  been  cut  down  in  Owen  Glendower's  days — 
the  hero  who  could  call  spirits  from  the  vasty  dee}).  As  to 
the  scenery  from  Oswestry  to  Llanfyllin,  in  the  vale  of  Llan- 
gadvvyn  and  in  Llangallan,  of  which  I  saw  the  entrance  this 
morning,  I  dare  not  put  down  my  feelings.  You  would  think 
them  wild  and  extravagant.  A  Welsh  bard,  and  in  his  own 
bold  and  original  language,  before  effeminacy  of  manners  had 
enervated  sounds — the  vehicles  of  mighty  conceptions,  alone 
could  paint  the  scene." 

In  the  summer  of  1819,  he  made  a  second  tour  in  Scot- 
land, by  appointment  of  the  Missionary  Society.  In  a  letter 
to  one  of  his  daughters,  Feb.  20,  of  this  year,  he  says, — 
"The  Directors  of  the  Missionary  Society  are  some  of  them 
threatening  to  send  your  old  father  to  the  North  this  sum- 
mer, to  beg  for  our  funds.  We  have  given  a  cordial  recep- 
tion to  the  Edinburgh  Society's  deputation,  and  we  hope  our 
Scottish   friends   will  perfect  the    union,   by   allowing  us   to 


216  SECOND  TOUR  IN  SCOTLAND. 

gather  the  fragments  north  of  the  Tweed,  after  they  them- 
selves have  '  eaten  the  fat  and  drunk  the  sweet'  in  their  own 
churches  at  home." 

His  labors,  on  this  occasion,  were  not  extended  over  such 
a  wide  field  as  on  his  former  journey,  but  the  collections  in 
every  place  which  he  visited  were  liberal ;  and  his  heart  was 
also  greatly  cheered  by  revisiting  his  native  country  and  the 
scenes  of  his  youth,  for  which,  even  at  this  advanced  period  of 
his  life,  he  still  cherished  a  most  ardent  attachment. 

The  following  short  note  is  addressed  to  a  relative  in  Scot- 
land, whom  he  proposed  to  visit  at  the  commencement  of  his 
labors  : — 

"London,  June  2,  1819. 

"  I  purpose  to  leave  London  for  Berwick,  by  sea,  on  Wednesday 
or  Thursday  next  week,  and  will  try  to  reach  Kinross  on  the 
17th, — your  fast  day,  I  suppose.  As  this,  however,  is  doubtful, 
you  will  deem  it  proper  to  arrange,  with  the  leave  of  the  eldership, 
matters  so  that  I  may  be  allowed  to  plead  the  cause  of  my  poor 
clients  on  the  Sabbath  night,  or  on  the  Monday.  I  should  like  to 
loiter  among  the  bleatings  of  your  fold  for  some  time,  but  am 
engaged  at  Dunfermline  on  the  24th,  to  receive  their  blessing. 
My  health  has  suffered  considerably  from  extreme  fatigue  of  late, 
and  I  long  for  a  little  rest  at  sea. 

"  Good  Dr.  Jerment  died  triumphantly  on  Wednesday  last.  I 
am  just  going  to  speak  over  his  grave.  May  we,  too,  close  our 
career  honorably  and  well !" 

"TO    MRS.    WAUGH. 

"Kinross,  June  22,  1819. 
"  I  go  off  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  in  company  with  Messrs. 
Hay  and  Beattie,  to  Leslie.  We  visit  the  tomb  of  Michael  Bruce, 
at  Portmoak,  over  the  lake.  My  lameness  grows  better.  £22, 10s. 
on  Sabbath  night.  All  send  their  love.  I  am  overwhelmed  with 
letter  writing.  New  invitations  to  every  part ;  but  I  am  at  Cold- 
stream on  the  25th,  and  cannot,  except  to  Dunbar,  go  back  again, 
beyond  Lammermuir.     Love  to  all." 

This  journey,  which  proved  to   be  his  lust  to  the  land  of 


SECOND    TOUK    IN    SCOTLAND,  2lY 

Iiis  fathers,  appears  to  have  been  enjoyed  by  him  with  extra- 
ordinary satisfaction.  On  arriving  at  Berwick  he  spent  some 
little  time  in  quiet  domestic  relaxation,  to  recruit  his  wearied 
frame,  under  the  roof  of  his  son  John,  who  was  there  settled 
in  life ;  after  which  he  travelled  up  the  Tweed,  visiting  his 
brethren  in  the  ministry  and  the  families  of  his  old  friends, 
along  its  beautiful  banks,  until  he  reached  the  rural  dwelling 
of  his  brother  at  Learetburn,  in  the  vicinity  of  Melrose  and 
Earlatoun.  Here  ho  spent  a  short  period  of  enjoyment, 
preaching  and  collecting  for  the  cause  of  missions  throughout 
the  adjoining  country,  and  revisiting,  with  softened  melancholy, 
the  endeared  scenes  of  his  early  youth.  In  speaking  of 
his  last  visit  to  Earlstoun  (see  page  113),  he  mentions  indeed 
the  "  painful  recollections"  with  which  it  was  darkened ;  yet 
the  close  of  the  paragraph  in  which  he  uses  this  expression, 
shows  that  the  feeling  was  mingled  with  deep  and  pure  en- 
joyment ;  the  sorrow  for  friends  departed  was  chastened 
and  consecrated  by  the  sublime  prospect  of  a  speedy  re-union 
in  "  a  better  country ;"  and  while  he  wept  over  the  graves 
of  his  early  companions  in  Earlstoun  churchyard,  we  may 
suppose  him  looking  forward,  like  the  patriarch  from  Mount 
Pisgah,  to  the  "  promised  land,"  and  exclaiming,  in  the  words 
of  his  favorite  old  tutor  in  philosophy, — the  author  of  "  The 
Minstrel,"— 

"  Let  those  deplore  their  doom, 
Whose  hope  still  grovels  in  that  dark  sojourn  ; 
But  lofty  souls,  who  look  beyond  the  tomb, 
Can  smile  at  death,  and  wonder  how  they  mourn. 
'  Shall  I  be  left  abandoned  in  the  dust, 
When  Fate,  relenting,  bids  the  flower  revive  '( — 
No  :  Heaven's  immortal  spring  shall  yet  arrive, 
And  man's  majestic  beauty  bloom  again, 
Bright  through  the  eternal  year  of  Love's  triumphant  reign?'  " 

[lis  epistolary  journal  to  Mrs.  Waugh  is  thus  continued  : — 

"Behtnek,  August.  10,  1819. 
"As  this  day  returns    lei   u     bl<    -  <*«>;!   foi  .ill   the   goodness 

10 


218  SECOND  TOUR  IN  SCOTLAND. 

which  he  has  bestowed  upon  us  unworthy  as  we  are.  Dark,  in- 
deed, has  our  sky  occasionally  been,  but  our  merciful  Father 
has  scattered  the  clouds,  and  given  to  us,  externally  at  least,  a 
clearer  sky  than  to  thousands  who  were  better  entitled  to  the 
privilege.  In  our  beloved  children,  he  has  blessed  us  indeed. 
That  Providence  should  have  settled  three  of  them,  and  in  cir- 
cumstances so  comfortable,  both  as  to  worldly  estate  and  reli- 
gious fellowship,  and  that  I  should  be  this  morning  on  the  evo 
of  attending  my  fourth  son  to  the  Presbytery,  with  a  view  to  his 
settlement  as  a  minister  of  God,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  his  own 
father — these  are  blessings  which  nothing  but  Divine  sovereign 
grace  can  account  for,  and  for  which  our  hearts  can  never  be 
sufficiently  grateful.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  forget,  and  I  trust 
I  am  not  backward  to  acknowledge,  the  great,  the  unceasing 
obligations  under  which  your  own  love,  sympathy,  and  care, 
have  brought  me.  Let  us  devote  ourselves  anew  to  the  service 
of  God,  and  be  deeply  concerned  to  close  honorably  and  well 
our  Christian  career,  by  studying,  like  an  old  Jewish  priest  and 
his  wife,  to  walk  in  all  the  statutes  and  commandments  of  the 
Lord  blameless." 


"  Learetbum,  Si.  BoswelVs  Green,  Aug.  16,  1819. 

"  After  a  pleasant  journey,  on  Friday,  from  Berwick  to  Kelso, 
and  from  Kelso  in  the  evening  to  3Ielrose,  I  landed  in  the  family 
of  the  good  Mr.  Thomson,  minister  of  the  parish.  I  have  found 
in  him  all  the  kindness  of  a  brother.  He  has  most  cheerfully 
given  me  the  liberty  of  pleading  the  cause  of  my  numerous  clients 
(O  how  numerous,  and  their  claims  how  many  and  forcible !)  in 
his  church,  on  Friday  evening  ;  and  on  Sabbath  publicly  announced 
it  to  the  parish,  as  did  Mr.  Elder  at  Newtown . 

"  I  found  Dr.  Lawson  and  family  in  good  health,  except  for  his 
deafness  and  partial  imbecility  in  his  limbs,  which  furnishes  an 
opportunity  to  his  good  people  of  providing  a  sedan-chair  for  him, 
to  carry  him,  as  the  deacons  of  Ephesus  carried  the  aged  apostle 
John,  to  the  pulpit  every  Sabbath.  His  folk  gave  me  a  good  col- 
lection, £21,  besides  a  guinea,  which  a  friend  of  Alexander's,  Mr 
Pringle  of  Whitebank,  sent  over  to  me.  I  went  in  the  Sabbath 
afternoon  to  Hawick,  and  preached  to  a  hillside  of  people,  who 
very  kindly  left  £24  in  the  plates  for  me." 


SECOND    TOUR    IN    SCOTLAND.  219 

"  Tuesday,  August  17. 

"  The  weather  is  become  singularly  warm.  My  brother's  peo- 
ple have  begun  to  cut  clown  their  wheal,  this  morning.  The  crop 
is,  on  the  whole,  good.  I  hope  the  gracious  providence  of  God 
will  grant  seasonable  weather  for  gathering  it  in,  and  make  us 
thankful  and  obedient. 

"  O  how  thankful  should  I  be  on  the  return  of  yesterday  !* 
Mercies  to  the  most  unworthy  !  Forbearance  amidst  a  thousand 
provocations!  Blessings  pressed  down,  shaken  together,  run- 
ning over !  Biessings  in  the  family,  root  and  branches,  on  which 
while  my  eye  looks,  it  trembles  ;  blessings  spiritual  and,  I  hope, 
eternal,  which  God  alone  could  bestow,  and  which  the  low  estale 
and  total  want  of  worth  of  the  objects  infinitely  enhance  !  My 
heart  sinks  under  the  pressure  of  the  Divine  goodness.  May 
the  devotedness  and  humble  unostentatious  activity  and  labor 
of  the  few  years  that  remain,  evince  the  sincerity  and  vigor  of 
the  gratitude  I  profess  to  feel ! 

"  But  I  must  fold  up  this  scrawl.  Mr.  Elder's  friend  I  look 
for  every  minute,  with  a  gig  to  carry  us  to  Old  Melrose.  I  dine 
with  the  good  man,  at  his  peaceful,  happy  home,  on  our  return. 
Love  to  all."f 

*  His  birth-day. 

|  In  the  following  extract  he  refers  to  an  incident  that  afforded  him 
much  innocent  pleasure,  and  his  friends  much  amusement.  We  insert 
it  in  a  note,  as  not  connected  with  the  grave  object  of  his  journey. 

"  Berwick,  August  1*1. 
"  While  Mr.  Good,  the  artist,  at  your  son's  desire,  is  taking  the  shape 
of  a  face  once  interesting  to  the  partialities  of  your  heart,  I  avail  my- 
self of  the  accommodating  disposition  of to  give  you  an  outline  of 

my  wanderings,  and  of  the  success  of  my  mendicity  in  the  churches 
^ince  the  date  of  my  last.  *  *  *  *  *  After  leav- 
ing my  brother's  family,  I  set  off  on  Saturday  afternoon  for  Jedburgh. 
Mr.  Young  and  I,  in  the  evening,  visited  Dandie  Dinmont,  and  readily 
obtained  from  him  a  whelp  of  Old  Mustard,  newly  spaened,  which  I 

mean  to  make  a  present  of  to ,  to  be  a  terror  to  evil-doers,  whether 

house  breakers  or  Muscovy  rats.    ,  however,  threatens  that  he 

will  arrest  young  Mustard,  in  part  payment  of  kippered  salmon  sent 
to  London  some  years  ago  for  me.  I  mean,  however,  to  procurt  bail 
and  litigate  the  point,  as  I  have  some  recollection  of  having  paid,  or  at 
least  purposed  to  pay,  for  the  same.'' 


220  INTENDED    THIRD    TOUR    IN    SCOTLAND. 

On  this  missionary  journey  he  continued  in  Scotland  about 
three  months;  and,  after  collecting  £737,  16s.,  sailed  from 
Leith  on  the  loth  September,  and  arrived  in  London  on  the 
18th,  with  invigorated  health,  and  with  a  heart  deeply  grateful 
to  the  God  of  salvation,  who  had  crowned  with  success  his 
laborious  efforts  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom  in  the  dark  places  of  the  earth. 

In  1820,  1821,  and  1822,  he  made  short  missionary  tours 
in  different  parts  of  England. 

He  purposed  to  visit  Scotland  a  third  time,  in  1823,  in  the 
same  labor  of  love  for  the  perishing  heathen,  whose  forlorn 
circumstances,  while  destitute  of  the  invaluable  blessings  of 
the  glorious  Gospel,  still  called  forth  his  tenderest  sympa- 
thy and  commiseration.  But  "God's  ways  are  not  our 
ways."  His  eyes  were  not  destined  again  to  behold  the  hills 
and  streams  of  his  earthly  father-land.  The  accident  at 
Clapton,  which  shook  so  violently  his  decaying  frame,  entirely 
disabled  him  from  undertaking  this  favorite  service  in  his 
Master's  cause,  and  warned  him  loudly  to  prepare  for  the 
speedy  summons  which  was  to  bid  him  enter  into  his  rest, 
as  a  good  and  faithful  servant.  Meekly  yielding  to  this  ad- 
monishment, he  bestirred  himself  to  procure  a  suitable  sub- 
stitute for  the  mission  to  Scotland ;  and  having  found  such 
in  the  person  of  his  much-esteemed  brother,  the  Rev.  W. 
Broadfoot,  minister  of  Oxendon  chapel,  he  addressed  copies 
of  the  following  circular  letter  to  each  of  his  reverend  friends 
in  the  North,  with  a  view  to  introduce  Mr.  Broadfoot  to  their 
Christian  affection,  and  thus  to  further,  as  far  as  his  influence 
extended,  the  great  and  good  cause  which  he  was  no  longer 
permitted  to  plead  for  in  person : — 

On  the  safe  arrival  of  this  little  creature  at  Berwick,  it  was  most  de- 
lightful to  witness  the  interest  that  it  had  created  in  the  Doctor's  mind. 
Many  were  the  handkerchiefs  torn  to  pieces,  and  great  was  the  domes 
tic  confusion  occasionally  pro  'need,  by  his  attempts  to  elicit  evidences 
of  its  inherited  dispositions.  He  carried  it  with  him  to  London  as  a 
great  treasure,  and  was  much  excited  when  he  introduced  to  his  family 
there  his  "  auld-farrunt  looking  young  friend." 


INTRODUCTORY    LETTER.  221 

"  2.  Salisbury  Place,  Mary-le-bone,  London, 
13th  June,  1823. 

"My  dear  Friend  and  Brother, — 'Tis  more  than  twelve 
months  ago  that  I  formed,  and  have  since  cherished  in  my  mind, 
the  fond  purpose,  by  the  leave  of  Him  '  whose  are  all  our  ways,' 
of  visiting  once  more  the  land  of  my  fathers,  and  of  making  a 
closing  appeal  to  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord  there,  in  behalf  of 
the  sons  of  the  strangers.  The  enfeebled  state  of  my  constitution 
admonished  me  to  work,  with  increasing  ardor,  while  my  sun 
yet  hung  above  the  horizon,  and  an  opportunity  was  yet  afforded 
me  of  doing  something  for  Him  who  has  done  so  much  (O  how 
much  !)  for  me.  I  was  desirous,  also,  of  reviving,  by  a  personal 
i"i  irview  with  my  brethren,  those  sacred  and  endearing  friend- 
ships in  the  enjoyment  of  which  I  have  survived  almost  all 
those  who  began  their  ministerial  career  with  myself.  Agree- 
ably to  this  purpose,  and  by  the  kindness  of  the  ministers,  I  was 
enabled  to  form  and  fix  a  tour  of  labor  for  the  space  of  ten 
weeks.  In  the  midst  of  these  expectations,  it  pleased  God  about 
four  weeks  ago,  in  the  exercise  of  his  sovereign,  holy,  and,  I 
trust,  gracious  Providence,  to  visit  me  with  the  return  of  a  se- 
vere constitutional  disorder.  It  was  brought  on  by  a  fall  at  a 
public  meeting  for  a  pious  and  most  benevolent  object,  from  the 
giving  way  of  the  platform,  by  which  my  whole  frame  was  great- 
ly injured.  I  have  been  confined,  and  chiefly  to  bed,  for  these 
four  weeks  past.  In  the  midst  of  my  anxiety  to  obtain  a  suita- 
ble substitute,  it  pleased  God,  in  consequence  of  my  earnest  ap- 
plication, combined  with  that  of  my  brethren  in  the  direction  of 
the  London  Missionary  Society,  to  incline  the  heart  of  my  be- 
loved brother  and  co-presbyter,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Broadfoot,  to  acqui- 
esce in  our  wishes.  This  has  relieved  my  mind  from  a  heavy 
pressure,  and,  I  trust,  will  be  found  a  part  of  the  Divine  plan 
that  will  greatly  conduce  to  the  advancement  of  the  Redeemer's 
cause.  Mr.  Broadfoot's  talents  as  a  preacher,  the  liberality  of  his 
sentiments,  the  mildness  and  suavity  of  his  manners,  his  connec- 
tion with  the  United  Associate  Synod,  and  the  ardor  of  his  zeal  for 
the  diffusion  of  the  glorious  Gospel,  eminently  lit  him  for  the  im- 
portant work.  You  will  receive  him  into  the  warmest  nook  of 
your  heart,  and  aid  him  in  the  object  of  his  mission,  which  is  in- 
deed your  own  mission  as  truly  as  ours.  In  this  cause  national 
distinctions  arc  lost, — or,  rather,  national  faculties  will  be  com- 


222  OTHER   MISSIONARY    LABORS- 

bined  in  the  advancement  of  an  object  that  will  unite  all  nations  in 
one  holy  family. 

"  I  enclose  a  paper  containing  an  address  by  the  directors  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society,  which  I  beg  you  will  read  to  your  dear 
people  on  the  Sabbath  before  Mr.  Broadfoot's  arrival,  subjoining 
whatever  considerations  your  own  zealous  and  devout  mind  may 
suggest  for  their  excitement. — Now,  my  dear  friend  and  brother, 
farewell ! — Ever  and  very  affectionately  yours, 

"Alex.  Waugh." 

By  a  communication  with  which  Mr.  Broadfoot  has  kindly 
furnished  us,  it  appears  that  he  collected,  during  his  short  tour 
in  Scotland,  about  £700;  and  that  "he  considers  it  clue  to 
justice  and  candor,"  as  he  modestly  expresses  it,  "  to  state, 
that  his  success  was  eminently  owing  to  the  name  and  influ- 
ence of  the  person  whose  [dace  he  occupied.  From  the  mo- 
ment," he  adds,  "  of  his  obtaining  my  consent  to  take  that 
part  in  the  mission  from  which  he  was  prevented  by  severe 
bodily  indisposition,  he  labored  to  prepare  my  way,  by  a  cir- 
cular letter  which  he  sent  to  a  number  of  the  ministers  of  our 
body  in  Scotland.  This  was  read  to  me  by  one  of  them,  when 
at  his  house ;  and  though  I  am  fully  conscious  of  my  coming 
short  (alas  !  far  short)  of  what  is  said  in  it  of  myself,  I  regarded 
it  as  a  recommendation  of  the  important  cause  in  which  I  was 
engaged  (especially  considering  the  person  from  whom  it  came), 
very  highly  calculated  to  secure  for  me,  wherever  it  went,  a 
kind  and  favorable  reception." 

From  the  foregoing  account  of  his  numerous  and  laborious 
journeys  in  the  service  of  the  Missionary  Society,  it  might 
appear  to  a  cursory  reader  that  these  constituted  his  chief  and 
most  arduous  exertions  in  this  cause ;  yet  such  was  far  from 
being  the  case.  His  journeys  were,  perhaps,  among  the  least 
laborious  of  the  duties  performed  by  him  in  this  great  field. 
Besides  being  one  of  the  most  assiduous  members  upon  the 
Board  of  General  Direction,  he  acted  as  a  member  of  various 
special  committees,  appointed  from  time  to  time,  as  well  as  of 
the  permanent  committees  of  Funds,  Correspondence,  and 
Examination ;  and    the   consequent   extent  of  his  missionary 


ADDRESS    TO    MISSIONARIES.  223 

exertions,  considering  the  amount  of  his  other  numerous  and 
urgent  avocations,  would  be  incredible  to  persons  of  less  mental 
activity,  and  less  strictly  methodical  in  the  division  of  time  and 
labor.  Labor,  even  when  his  age  and  infirmities  required  re- 
pose, was  never  regarded  by  him  as  a  task,  but  rather  as  a 
tribute  of  gratitude  for  the  love  of  his  Saviour ;  and,  like  the 
great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  he  was  always  willing  to  work  as 
well  as  to  teach. 

Among  other  duties  which  he  was  frequently  selected  to 
perform,  was  that  of  addressing  the  missionaries  sent  forth  by 
the  Society,  on  their  departure  from  their  native  land  to  exe- 
cute the  important  and  arduous  trust  committed  to  them.  The 
following  paper  is  a  specimen,  though  a  very  imperfect  one,  of 
(lie  manner  in  which  lie  was  wont  to  perform  this  solemn  office. 
It  is  entitled  "Hints  towards  a  Farewell  Address  to  the  Mis- 
sionaries ;"  and  seems  to  have  been  intended  as  the  heads  of 
the  different  topics  which  he  designed  to  illustrate  more  fully 
in  his  spoken  charge  : — 

"  Dear  Brethren, — Before  we  take  our  last  leave  of  you, 
permit  us,  out  of  the  fulness  and  in  the  simplicity  of  our 
hearts,  to  suggest  a  few  practical  hints  to  your  consideration. 
We  look  upon  you  with  the  sincerity,  the  solicitude,  and 
large  measures  of  the  warmth,  of  parental  regard.  May  the 
Spirit  of  wisdom  teach  us  how  to  address  you,  and  teach  you 
how  to  receive  our  words,  for  your  spiritual  profit  and  consola- 
tion! 

"  The  work  on  which  you  are  sent  is  difficult  as  it  is  im- 
portant. But  you  know  where  your  strength  lies.  '  God  is 
able  to  make  all  grace  abound  towards  you  ;  that  ye,  always 
having  all  sufficiency  in  all  things,  may  abound  to  every  good 
work.'  Mountains  of  Mohammedan  and  heathen  superstition, 
before  the  Son  of  God,  become  plains.  Look  up  to,  and  lean, 
therefore,  on  his  arm,  and  thus  ye  shall  lose  the  sense  of  your 
own  weakness. 

"Maintain  close  fellowship  with  God  in  your  own  souls. 
By  this  means  your  confidence  in  him   will   increase,  your 


224  ADDRESS   TO    MISSIONARIES. 

compassion  for  them  who  are  strangers  to  communion  with 
him  will  become  more  tender,  and  all  the  powers  of  your 
minds  be  set  on  a  blaze  of  holy  scriptural  zeal  for  their  conver- 
sion. 

"  While  you  make  known  to  the  ignorant  African  the  grace 
of  God  that  bringeth  salvation,  O !  we  beseech  you,  in  the 
bowels  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  you  show  to  them,  in  your  own 
lives,  how  this  grace  of  God  hath  taught  you  to  deny  ungodli- 
ness and  worldly  lusts,  and  to  live  soberly,  and  righteously,  and 
godly  in  this  present  evil  world.  The  depth  of  your  reasonings 
their  untutored  minds  may  not  be  able  always  to  fathom ;  but 
a  humble,  self-denied,  contented,  and  gentle  deportment,  is  an 
argument  which  every  mind  can  comprehend,  and  which,  by 
the  grace  of  God,  every  heart  will  feel. 

"  Keep  ever  in  view  the  great  object  of  your  mission,  that, 
while  you,  in  your  stations,  minister  the  Gospel  of  God,  the 
offering  up  of  the  Gentiles  may  be  acceptable,  being  sancti- 
fied by  the  Holy  Ghost.  Let  nothing  divert  you  from  this 
great  object.  Say  to  every  temptation  from  the  love  of 
science  and  the  love  of  gain,  that  would  turn  the  heart  aside, 
or  weaken  its  steadfastness,  '  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan ; 
for  thou  savorest  not  the  things  that  be  of  God,  but  the 
things  which  are  of  men.'  With  God's  commandment,  there- 
fore, in  your  ears,  the  joy  set  before  you  in  your  eyes,  and  the 
zeal  and  firmness  of  Jesus  which  conducted  him  to  that  joy, 
hold  on  in  your  chosen  course  steadfast  and  immovable  to  the 
end. 

"  Seek  from  God  in  fervent  prayer,  and  encourage  in  your 
own  minds,  every  missionary  endowment.  Ye  have  need  of 
patience  in  bearing  the  blasphemies  of  Mohammedan  Muftis, 
and  the  contradiction  of  Pagan  idolaters,  that  peradventure 
God  may  give  them  repentance  to  the  acknowledgment  of 
the  truth.  Condescend  to  men  and  to  minds  of  low  estate. 
Cultivate  the  tempers  which  form  the  character  of  a  teacher 
of  babes,  one  who  can  simplify  Divine  truths,  and  bear  witli 
the  backwardness  and  perverseness  of  the  carnal  mind  in  the 
things  of  God.     Endeavor   to    reconcile   yourselves   to   poor 


ADDRESS    TO    MISSIONARIES.  225 

fare  and  incommodious  habitations :  Jesus  Christ  had  not 
where  to  lay  his  head ;  holy  apostles  had  often  no  certain 
dwelling-place ;  men  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy  wan- 
dered about  in  sheep-skins,  and  goat-skins,  destitute,  afflicted, 
tormented,  in  deserts  and  in  mountains,  in  dens  and  caves  of 
the  earth.  Cultivate  the  most  cordial  union  among  yourselves, 
guarding  against  those  foul  passions  of  jealousy,  envy,  the  lust 
of  1  'ower,  by  which  your  union  would  be  weakened,  God's 
Spirit  grieved,  and  the  heathen  hardened  in  their  opposition  to 
the  gospel.  Abound  in  spiritual  courage:  the  battle  is  the 
Lord's.  Mightier  is  He  who  is  on  your  side  than  all  that  can 
rise  up  against  you.  You  are  engaged  in  a  cause  which  event- 
ually must  be  successful.  The  Lord,  we  trust,  will  stand  with 
you  and  strengthen  you,  that  by  you  the  preaching  may  be 
fully  known,  and  that  the  Gentiles  may  hear,  and  yourselves 
be  delivered  out  of  the  lion's  mouth.  The  Captain  of  salva- 
tion, we  hope,  will  march  at  your  head,  break  up  the  way  be- 
fore you,  and,  in  his  majesty,  ride  prosperously  because  of  truth 
and  meekness  and  righteousness,  while  you  are  employed  in 
teaching  Ethiopia  to  stretch  out  her  suppliant  hands  to  the 
Conqueror.  Beware  of  dividing  the  glory  of  the  conquest  with 
him :  he  is  jealous  of  his  glory,  and  will  not  give  it  to  the 
graven  images  of  human  eloquence  and  ministerial  labors.  Be 
willing,  therefore,  to  retire  to  the  background,  that  Jesus  may 
stand  forth  the  sole  unrivalled  object  of  the  esteem  and  love  of 
all  his  saint-. 

"  We  shall  not  cease  to  pray  for  you,  and  to  maintain  the 
closest  fellowship  with  you  which  the  interposing  ocean  will 
permit.  We  send  you  out  under  the  sympathy,  guidance,  and 
protection  of  the  Son  of  God,  in  whom  we  repose  unabating 
confidence.  Wherever  you  go,  our  hearts  go  with  you.  The 
chain  that  binds  us  may  be  lengthened  by  your  removal  from 
us,  but  weakened  we  trust  it  shall  not  be.  Now,  the  Lord 
make  your  way  prosperous  !  and  to  Him  who  is  able  to  keep 
you  from  falling  we  affectionately  commit  you  and  the  invalu- 
able treasure  of  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ  which  you 
carry  to  the  Gentiles." 

10* 


226  ADDRESS    TO    MISSIONARIES. 

The  following  passages  are  extracted  from  another  paper  of 
the  same  description.  Both  this  and  the  preceding  are  with- 
out date : — 

"  Beloved  Brethren, — We  address  you  once  more  in  the 
name  of  your  Father  in  heaven  and  of  ours.  Our  bowels  yearn 
towards  you.  Our  desires,  our  fears,  our  hopes,  our  anxieties, 
will  accompany  you.  Your  prosperity  and  success  will  employ 
a  large  measure  of  our  prayers  to  God  for  many  years  to  come. 
Ye  are  our  children ;  and,  in  parting  with  you  our  hearts  em- 
brace you  with  tenderest  affection  :  we  kneel,  and  present  you 
to  our  heavenly  Father,  and  implore  his  enriching  blessing 
upon  you. 

"  Give  good  heed  to  your  personal  conduct.  In  your  falls 
are  involved,  it  may  be,  the  falls  of  thousands.  Should  in- 
telligence arrive  in  this  country  of  your  strife,  your  impurity, 
your  sloth,  your  deadness,  it  will  sadden  and  afflict  our  hearts, 
— the  hearts  of  all  w7ho  love  our  righteous  cause.  It  will 
greatly  injure  the  heathen,  by  discouraging  the  sending  out  of 
other  missions.  It  will  grieve  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  provoke 
him  to  give  you  over  to  your  own  hearts'  lusts.  It  will 
thicken  the  cloud  of  Divine  indignation  against  your  own  souls 
into  the  blackness  of  darkness.  These  are  awful  words, '  If  any 
man  defile  the  temple  of  God,  him  will  God  destroy !'  But 
we  hope  better  things  of  you,  and  things  which  accompany  sal- 
vation. 

"  When  far  from  your  native  land,  live  the  more  near  to 
God :  make  him  your  dwelling-place ;  walk  before  him  and 
be  perfect.  The  gracious  presence  of  God  will  make  the 
most  solitary  glade  a  Bethel ;  and  endear  the  fountain,  the 
stream,  and  the  shore,  more  to  your  souls  than  the  most 
happy  temperature  of  climate,  or  fertility  of  soil.  Many  of 
you,  we  hope,  will  be  able  to  point  to  the  mountain,  or  the 
wide-spreading  tree,  on  your  death-bed,  and  say,  with  dying 
Jacob,  '  God  Almighty  appeared  unto  me  at  Luz,  and  blessed 
me.' 

"Now,  God  Almighty  bless  you.      The  eternal   God  be 


CONNECTION    WITH    LONDON    MISSIONARY    SOCIETY.       227 

your  refuge,  and  underneath  you  the  everlasting  arms  !  Final- 
ly, brethren,  farewell !  May  you  fare  well  on  the  rich  provi- 
sion of  the  new  covenant !  May  you  faro  well  when  our  care 
cannot  reach  you !  May  you  fare  well  in  the  enjoyment  of 
much  fellowship  with  God ;  in  beholding  the  travail  of  the 
soul  of  your  Redeemer  among  the  heathen ;  and  in  all  the 
comforts  of  the  Holy  Ghost !  Be  perfect,  bo  of  good  comfort, 
be  of  one  mind,  live  in  peace ;  and  the  God  of  love  and  peace 
shall  be  with  you." 

A  brief  connected  view  of  Dr.  Waugh's  character  and  ser- 
vices in  connection  with  the  London  Missionary  Society,  having 
been  drawn  up,  at  our  request,  by  one  of  his  most  esteemed 
friends  and  fellow-laborers  in  that  cause,  we  have  now  the  satis- 
faction of  continuing  this  branch  of  the  memoir  in  the  words 
of  an  able  writer,  who  is  intimately  acquainted  with  his  subject. 
lie  proceeds  as  follows  : 

"For  twenty-eight  years  Dr.  Waugli  sat,  by  the  unani- 
mous appointment  of  his  brethren,  as  chairman  of  the  exam- 
ining committee  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  during 
which  period  he  exhibited  a  rare  combination  of  prudence, 
gentleness,  acute  discrimination,  conscientious  attention  to 
business,  and  devoted  attachment  to  the  missionary  cause. 
To  the  whole  of  his  clerical  coadjutors,  his  mild  and  unas- 
suming but  dignified  deportment,  rendered  him  an  object  of 
equal  esteem  and  veneration.  Without  a  single  particle  of 
that  sycophancy  which  seeks,  on  any  terms,  to  ingratiate  it- 
self into  the  good  wishes  of  an  influential  circle,  he  received 
tokens  of  unbiased  friendship  and  confidence  from  all  with 
whom  it  was  his  duty  to  act.  By  the  suavity  of  his  manners, 
he  imparted  general  feelings  of  satisfaction  to  all ;  while  his 
personal  friends  were  invariably  conscious  of  some  delicate 
mark  of  special  regard.  In  attending  to  his  immediato  prov- 
ince as  chairman,  he  wras  ever  careful  to  maintain  order  and 
decorum,  in  the  way  best  calculated  to  leave  an  impression 
of  his  entire  impartiality.  Whatever  were  the  leanings  of 
friendship  in  a  bosom  peculiarly  susceptible  of  all  its  most 
cherished  feelings,  no  one  could  ever  complain  that  he  did 


228  GENERAL    CHARACTER   AND    SERVICES 

not  receive  from  Dr.  Waugh  the  precise  measure  of  respect 
which  his  age,  station,  acquirements,  and  general  character, 
seemed  to  demand. 

"To  his  younger  brethren  in  the  direction  he  always  acted 
with  the  condescension  of  a  father ;  while  with  those  of  nearly 
the  same  standing  with  himself  he  was  wont  to  indulge  in  a 
freedom  and  facetiousness  of  conversation,  to  which  none  could 
listen  without  catching  a  measure  of  his  kind  and  generous 
spirit. 

"  When  differences  of  opinion  arose  upon  any  particular 
question,  his  constant  aim  was  to  check  every  symptom  of 
personality  and  of  unholy  asperity ;  while,  by  the  wisdom  of 
his  counsel,  and  the  mildness  of  his  reproofs,  he  often  suc- 
ceeded in  restoring  unanimity  of  opinion,  and  harmony  of 
feeling.  Peace,  by  ail  means,  save  the  sacrifice  of  truth  and 
purity,  was  the  maxim  upon  which  he  himself  acted,  and 
which  he  frequently  urged  upon  the  attention  of  others.  It 
would  be  easy  indeed  to  particularize  instances,  in  the  history 
of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  in  which,  both  in  the 
committee  of  examination,  and  in  the  board  of  direction,  his 
catholic  spirit  was  the  means  of  preventing  the  most  serious 
misunderstandings.  So  much  was  he  the  object  of  general 
esteem,  that  parties  the  most  adverse  listened  to  his  mild  and 
persuasive  advice.  By  some  pertinent  anecdote,  or  by  some 
happy  exhibition  of  the  natural  playfulness  of  his  mind,  or  by 
some  solemn  appeal  to  great  and  acknowledged  principles,  he 
would  often  quench  the  violence  of  a  most  threatening  debate, 
and  restore  the  Christian  tone  of  a  meeting  after  it  had  been 
considerably  impaired :  and  when  in  these  holy  efforts  he 
failed  in  accomplishing  the  best  wishes  of  his  heart,  he  in 
general  sat  down  in  silence,  evidently  grieved  at  his  want  of 
success,  but,  at  the  same  time  displaying  nothing  of  that  cha- 
grin which  a  mind  less  dignified  would  not  have  failed  to  ex- 
press. His  mild  acquiescence  in  decisions  contrary  to  his  own 
expressed  views,  led  those  who  were  ignorant  of  his  real  char- 
acter to  suspect  him  occasionally  of  the  want  of  becoming 
firmness;    but  he  knew  full  well   that   'the  wrath  of  man 


AS    A    DIRECTOR    OF    THE    MISSIONARY    SOCIETY.  229 

workcth  not  the  righteousness  of  God,  and  that  objects  accom- 
plished by  the  sacrifice  of  every  Christian  temper  must  be  truly 
unacceptable  to  the  God  of  love.* 

"But  the  finest  displays  of  Dr.  Waugh's  character  as 
chairman  of  the  committee  of  examination  were  seen  in  his 
mode  of  treating  missionary  candidates.  When  they  entered 
the  room,  his  first  effort  was  to  dispossess  their  minds  of  that 
fear  of  man  which  bringeth  a  snare,  and  to  convince  them 
that  they  were  in  the  presence  of  friends,  all  deeply  interested 
in  their  success  and  happiness.  So  entirely  was  his  manner 
divested  of  all  appearance  of  austerity,  and  so  inviting  and 
kind  was  the  expression  of  his  countenance,  that  the  most 
timid  felt  easy  in  his  presence;  while  those  of  a  different 
stamp  learnt  modesty  from  his  unassuming  and  patriarchal 
appearance.  His  modes  of  examination  were  often  dis- 
tinguished by  great  acuteness,  while  an  amiable  vivacity  of 
manner  took  from  them  all  semblance  of  severity.  Occa- 
sionally, however,  his  questions  were  rather  embarrassing  to 
the  candidates  as  he  started  difficulties,  in  reference  to  Divine 
truth,  which  it  was  not  easy  for  a  beginner  to  solve.  But 
the  moral  of  such  perplexing  interrogatories  was  never  lost 
sight  of  by  the  venerable  chairman,  who  always  urged  upon 
the  young  missionary  the  necessity  of  a  thorough  acquaint- 
ance with  all  the  objections  which  sceptics  and  infidels  are 
accustomed  to  oppose  to  the  evidence  or  facts  of  the  Christian 
revelation.      Sometimes   his   manner  would  produce  surprise 

*  Another  of  his  fellow-laborers  in  the  Missionary  Society  speaks  of 
him  in  the  following  terms  : — "  During  the  many  years  in  which  he 
occupied  the  chair  of  the  examining  committee  in  the  society,  it  was 
a  privilege  to  be  one  of  that  board.  Loving  all,  and  beloved  by  all  bis 
brethren,  the  writer  would  say,  it  was  every  member's  own  fault  if  he 
did  not  leave  the  room  a  wiser  and  a  better  man  than  when  he  entered 
it.  If  at  any  time  jars  arose  among  his  brethren,  and  good  men  ap- 
peared to  treat  each  other  with  momentary  asperity,  when  Dr.  Wangh 
appeared,  peace  was  immediately  restored  : 

"  '  Turn  pietate  gravem  ac  mentis  si  forte  virum  quern 
Conspexere,  silent;  adrectisque  nuribus  adstant: 
Ille  regit  dictis  auimos,  et  pectora  mulcet.' " 


230  GENERAL    CHARACTER    AND    SERVICES 

and  consternation  in  the  mind  of  an  inexperienced  and  sim- 
ple-hearted candidate :  he  would  assume  all  the  air  of  a 
polished  and  subtle  infidel,  and  would  throw  out  an  in- 
genious suspicion  against  the  Divine  legation  of  Moses;  or 
against  the  validity  of  his  miracles;  or  against  the  supe- 
riority of  his  claims  to  those  of  the  magicians  of  Egypt.  On 
such  occasions  he  seldom  failed  to  puzzle  the  young  mission- 
ary, who  was  in  general  equally  startled  at  his  own  igno- 
rance, and  at  the  unexpected  character  assumed  by  his  revered 
examiner.  In  no  instance,  however,  did  he  fail  to  leave  a 
salutary  impression  upon  the  mind  of  a  devoted  candidate, 
who  could  not  but  perceive  the  deep  piety  and  the  dignified 
kindness  of  his  amiable,  •  though  facetious,  instructor.  Of 
Dr.  Waugh  it  may  be  affirmed,  without  hesitation,  that 
every  missionary  of  the  Society  regarded  him  as  a  father 
and  a  friend,  to  whom  he  could  confidently  look,  not  only 
for  the  simple  exercise  of  justice,  but  for  the  full  flow  of  that 
generous  sympathy  which  the  self-denying  and  arduous  char- 
acter of  his  undertaking  seemed  to  demand.  Both  in  their 
own  country,  and  after  quitting  their  native  shores,  the  name 
of  Dr.  "Waugh  was  invariably  pronounced,  by  all  the  mission- 
aries of  the  Society,  with  filial  reverence  and  affection.  Even 
refractory  individuals,  and  those  who  had  in  some  measure 
misconducted  themselves,  were  never  heard  to  utter  a  single 
murmur  against  the  man  who  knew  at  once  how  to  rebuke 
their  errors  and  to  conciliate  their  regard.  On  all  occasions 
he  manifested  such  entire  self-possession,  and  such  perfect 
control  over  the  irascible  qualities  of  human  nature,  that  no 
man  who  had  any  respect  for  himself,  or  who  possessed  aught 
that  was  capable  of  being  acted  upon  by  kindness,  could  feel 
towards  him  any  other  sentiments  than  those  of  the  most 
unreserved  good-will.  Whatever  emotions  might  have  been 
engendered  in  the  moment  of  unavoidable  debate,  he  had 
the  happy  art  of  carrying  no  angry  or  party  feelings  from 
the  immediate  scene  of  mental  conflict.  The  consequence 
was,  that  he  made  no  enemies  to  himself;  and  that  he 
was   distinctly   felt    to   belong    to   no   party ;    and,   in    fact* 


AS    A    DIRECTOR    OF   THE    MISSIONARY    SOCIETY.  231 

to  be  the  pledged  advocate  of  nothing  but  truth  and  benevo- 
lence. 

"When  misunderstandings  arose  between  any  particular 
missionary  and  the  board  of  direction,  his  constant  effort  was 
to  bring  about  a  reconciliation.  In  the  committees  he  invaria- 
bly advocated  the  adoption  of  mild  measures,  and  the  cultiva- 
tion of  that  'charity  which  covereth  a  multitude  of  sins;' 
while  in  his  personal  intercourse  with  the  supposed  offender, 
ho  placed  high  the  prerogative  of  the  directors,  and  endeavored 
by  all  proper  means  to  superinduce  a  becoming  feeling  of 
humility,  and  such  a  consciousness  of  inadvertency  and  failure 
as  might  lead  to  every  necessary  concession.  With  such  melt- 
ing tenderness,  however,  were  these  delicate  offices  performed, 
that  if  lie  failed,  but  little  hope  remained  for  any  one  who 
might  make  the  attempt  after  him.* 

*  The  following  anecdote,  which  so  well  illustrates  Dr.  Waugh's 
character  as  chairman  of  the  examination  committee,  appeared,  soon 
after  his  decease,  in  the  pages  of  the  "  Eclectic  Review."  Having  been 
enabled  to  ascertain  its  authenticity,  we  make  no  apology  for  subjoin- 
ing it  hero,  with  a  very  slight  alteration. 

A  pious  young  man,  who  was  desirous  of  devoting  himself  to  the 
work  of  the  ministry  among  the  heathen,  and  had  been  recommended 
with  that  view  to  the  committee  of  the  Loudon  Missionary  Society,  on 
undergoing  the  usual  examination,  stated  that  he  had  one  difficulty: 
lie  had  an  aged  mother  entirely  dependent  upon  an  elder  brother  and 
himself  for  maintenance;  and  in  case  of  that  brother's  death,  he  should 
wisli  t<>  he  at  liberty  to  return  to  this  country,  if  his  mother  were  still 
living,  to  contribute  to  her  support  Scarcely  had  he  made  this  ingen- 
uous statement,  when  a  harsh  voice  exclaimed,  "If  you  love  your 
mother  more  than  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  you  will  not  do  for  us." 
Abashed  and  confounded,  the  young  man  was  silent.  Some  murmurs 
escaped  the  committee  ;  and  he  was  directed  to  retire  while  his  pro- 
posal was  taken  into  consideration.  On  his  being  again  sent  for,  the 
venerable  chairman  (Dr.  "Waugh),  in  tones  of  unaffected  kindness,  and 
with  a  patriarchal  benignity  of  mien,  acquainted  him  that  the  commit- 
tee did  not  feel  themselves  authorized  to  accept  of  his  services  on  a 
condition  involving  uncertainty  as  to  the  term  :  but  immediately  added  : 
"We  think  none  the  worse  of  you,  my  good  lad.  for  your  dutiful  regard 
for  your  aged  parent.  You  are  but  acting  in  conformity  to  the  examplo 
of  Him  whose  Gospel  you  wishod  to  proclaim  among  the  heathen,  who, 


232  GENERAL    CHARACTER    AND    SERVICES 

"  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  Dr.  Waugh  was  a  member 
of  the  general  board  of  direction,  as  well  as  chairman  of  the 
committee  of  examination.  There  too,  till  age  and  infirmity 
forbade,  he  was  wont  to  attend  with  most  exemplary  punctu- 
ality. Nor  did  he  sit  as  a  silent  and  uninterested  spectator. 
Though  he  carefully  avoided  that  loquacious  impertinence 
which  ultimately  renders  the  individual  contemptible  who 
indulges  in  it,  he  was,  at  the  same  time,  most  strictly  watch- 
ful over  all  great  interests,  and  never  failed  to  interpose  his 
paternal  advice  when  his  judgment  dictated  the  propriety  of 
the  measure.  Sharing  equally  in  the  good-will  of  all  who 
listened  to  him,  his  words  fell  with  acceptance  upon  every  ear ; 
and  if  any  differed  from  him  in  judgment,  none  felt  alienated 
in  heart.  He  knew  how  to  advocate  any  particular  measure 
without  rousing  the  jealousy  of  its  opponent,  whose  '  good 
mind'  was  always  taken  for  granted,  and  whose  practical 
wisdom  was  not  so  much  as  brought  under  suspicion.  The 
advantage  gained  by  this  method  was  immense.  While  it 
lulled  all  peevish  anxiety,  on  the  one  hand,  it  gave  full  force 
to  every  legitimate  argument  on  the  other,  and  shed  an  air  of 
loveliness  over  even  controversy  itself.  It  is  firmly  believed, 
that  during  all  the  years  in  which  he  sat  in  the  missionary 
direction,  he  was  never  known  to  use  a  harsh  epithet  to  any 
one  who  felt  it  his  duty  to  oppose  .  his  particular  views. 
Sometimes,  indeed,  he  would  venture  on  a  well-chosen  repartee, 
at  the  expense  of  his  opponent;  but  his  entire  deportment 
was  so  much  that  of  a  Christian  gentleman,  that  no  feeling 
of  asperity  could  survive  the  immediate  occasion  of  its  excite- 
ment. 

"There  were  certain  measures  which  carried  along  with 
them  his  enthusiastic  admiration.  He  was  a  warm  friend  to 
the  progressive  improvement  in  the  system  of  missionary 
education.      He    loathed     the    very    idea    of    sending    forth 

as  he  hung  upon  the  cross  in  dying  agonies,  beholding  his  mother  and 
the  beloved  disciple  standing  by,  said  to  the  one,  '  Woman,  Behold  thy 
Son !'  and  to  John,  '  Behold  thy  mother !'  My  good  lad,  we  think  none 
the  worse  of  you." — Editor. 


AS  A  DIRECTOR  OF  THE  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY.  233 

ignorant  men  and  novices  to  propagate  the  faith  of  Christ  among 
the  heathen ;  and  therefore,  whenever  a  fit  opportunity  offered 
of  expressing  his  sentiments  on  this  head,  his  uniform  advice 
was,  'Let  the  lads  have  the  very  best  drilling  you  can  give 
them ;  for  after  all  you  can  enable  them  to  pick  up  in  three 
or  four  short  years,  they  will  find  it  sufficiently  difficult  to  cope 
with  their  poor  ungodly  countrymen,  to  say  nothing  of  their 
mission  to  the  heathen.' 

"  He  was  also  greatly  disposed  to  countenance  every  propo- 
sition which  contemplated  the  legitimate  comfort  of  the  mis- 
sionary,  whether  in  his  native  country,  or  after  his  arrival  upon 
the  heathen  shores.  Invariably  did  he  strive  to  preserve  a  ten- 
der link  of  attachment  between  the  directors  and  all  their  agents. 
Highly  did  he  estimate  the  claims  of  the  missionary  office  ; 
and  he  was  ever  anxious  to  secure  for  it  all  the  honor  and  all 
the  accommodation  to  which  it  was  entitled.  He  could  not 
endure  to  hear  anything  said  that  tended  to  detract  from  that 
spiritual  dignity  with  which  Christ  has  invested  it.  He  wished 
all  the  servants  of  the  Society  to  go  forth  under  the  high  and 
sacred  feeling,  that  they  were  the  ministers  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
patronized  by  their  attached  brethren  and  equals.  '  Let  not,' 
he  would  often  say,  '  the  poor  lads  be  cowed  ;  for  who  ever 
knew  a  cowed  man  do  any  good  in  this  world  V  Of  their 
personal,  domestic,  and  ministerial  equipment  he  was  most 
tenderly  careful;  and  always  deeply  regretted  that  the  funds 
of  the  Society  compelled  the  missionaries,  generally,  to  leave 
their  country  with  such  a  scanty  supply  of  useful  books. 
In  all  cases  he  was  a  friend  to  liberal  measures  ;  and  he  had 
an  undisputed  right  to  be  so,  for  the  spirit  of  British  benevo- 
lence had  generously  responded  to  his  manly  and  eloquent 
appeals. 

"  The  fund  recently  established  for  the  benefit  of  the  widows 
of  missionaries  had  his  most  determined  support.  He  did  not 
look  upon  the  establishment  of  such  a  fund  in  the  light  of  a 
well-timed  charity ;  but  maintained,  often  with  ardor,  that 
it  was  a  positive  act  of  justice  to  those  men  who  had  sacri- 
ficed their  all  for  the  good  of  souls,  and  whose  widows  and 


234  GENERAL  CHARACTER  AND  SERVICES 

orphans  were,  therefore,  the  real  property  of  the  Society, 
and  had  an  undoubted  claim  upon  its  support.  He  lamented, 
to  the  hour  of  his  death,  that  the  income  of  the  widows'  fund 
was  so  utterly  inadequate ;  and  did  not  fail,  whenever  he 
advocated  the  iuterests  of  the  Society,  to  press  its  peculiar 
claims. 

"  But  in  nothing,  perhaps,  is  Dr.  Waugh  a  more  distinct 
object  of  remembrance  in  the  board  of  direction,  than  in  his 
addresses  to  Missionaries  and  their  wives  previously  to  their 
quitting  their  native  shores.*  On  these  solemn  occasions 
every  ear  was  attentive,  every  eye  glistened  with  deep  inter- 
est, and  every  heart  was  thrilled  with  Christian  emotion. 
He  was  tender  as  a  dying  father  to  his  weeping  children ; 
the  missionary  and  his  beloved  wife  felt  instantly  that  they 
lived  in  his  generous  heart ;  his  words  fell  with  more  than 
patriarchal  solemnity  and  affection  upon  the  ear ;  the  love  of 
Christ  constrained  him,  and  he  spoke  as  if  his  lips  had  been 
touched  with  a  live  coal  from  off  the  altar  of  God ;  the 
duties,  temptations,  trials,  encouragements,  attendant  upon 
missionary  labor  were  all  most  vividly  depicted.  But 
everything  was  mild,  persuasive,  and  affectionate  ;  there  were 
no  grating  words  of  authority  ;  it  was  a  moment  devoted 
to  the  meltings  of  prayer,  and  to  the  full  exercise  of  Christian 
love.  He  seemed  to  know  the  actual  feelings  of  a  mission- 
ary, and  he  made  his  appeal  to  them  in  a  manner  never 
to  be  forgotten :  there  was  nothing  cold — nothing  reserv- 
ed— nothing  indicative  of  suspicion,  in  his  manner.  He  took 
for  granted  the  existence  of  the  noblest  principles  and  the 
best  affections  of  the  mind,  and  brought  to  bear  upon  his 
weeping  and  penetrated  auditory  all  the  high  consolations 
and  encouragements  of  the  Divine  word.  Some  of  the  most 
faithful  of  the  Society's  missionaries  have  been  known  to 
speak  with  lively  feelings  of  his  parting  counsels  to  the  close 
of  their  earthly  pilgrimage ;  and,  indeed,  that  must  have 
been  an  unfeeling  heart  upon  which  a  lasting  impression  had 

*  See  the  brief  specimens  of  addresses  to  missionaries  inserted  at 
pp.  223-226. 


AS  A  DIRECTOR  OF  THE  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY.  235 

not  been  made.  The  entire  scene  was  one  of  the  heart,  and 
bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  parting  interview  of  Paul 
with  the  elders  of  the  church  at  Ephesus.  Intense  sympathy 
was  awakened  in  behalf  of  those  devoted  servants  of  Christ, 
about  to  bid  adieu  forever  to  the  endearments  of  kindred  and 
of  home  ;  the  warm  current  of  human  and  sanctified  affections 
flowed  gently  towards  them ;  and  the  spirit  of  prayer  rose  to 
Heaven  on  their  behalf.  The  venerable  counsellor  was  him- 
self forgotten,  and  every  bosom  heaved  a  sigh  of  tenderness 
over  those  who  might  never  be  expected  to  revisit  their  native 
shores. 

"  In  closing  this  necessarily  brief  reference  to  the  standing 
which  Dr.  Waugh  occupied  in  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
it  is  but  simple  justice  to  affirm  that  he  considered  his  connec- 
tion with  that  highly  honored  institution  as  contributing  most 
essentially  to  the  early  development  and  the  subsequent  useful- 
ness of  his  ministerial  character. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  equally  certain,  that  his  early 
efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Society  did  much  to  establish  it  in  the 
Christian  confidence  and  affection  of  the  public,  particularly  in 
that  influential  denomination  to  which  the  Doctor  himself  be- 
longed, and  among  his  beloved  countrymen  in  general,  both  in 
England  and  north  of  the  Tweed." 

To  the  above  able  and  accurate  sketch  of  Dr.  Waugh  in  this 
connection,  we  shall  subjoin  an  extract  from  a  very  interesting 
communication  (of  which  we  have  also  availed  ourselves  in 
other  parts  of  the  memoir)  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Philip,  distin- 
guished for  his  important  missionary  labors  in  Southern  Africa. 
The  passage  here  given  is  particularly  valuable,  from  the  light 
in  which  it  places  a  part  of  Dr.  Waugh's  character,  which  has 
been  often  misapprehended,  owing  to  some  of  those  who  did 
not  thoroughly  know  him,  erroneously  mistaking  his  extreme 
forbearance  and  love  of  peace  for  a  sort  of  political  pusillanimity, 
verging  on  passive  obedience. 

"The  calm  benevolence  of  his  temper,"  says  Dr.  Philip, 
"together  with  the  ideas  ho  entertained  of  the  ministerial 
character,  made  him  afraid  of  anything  like  what  is  usually 


236  GENERAL    CHARACTER  AND    SERVICES 

designated  politics  ;  but  he  was  too  ardent  a  lover  of  mankind 
to  be  indifferent  to  their  civil  rights,  or  to  any  great  question 
which  involved  the  liberties  of  his  country,  or  the  amelioration 
of  the  condition  of  any  portion  of  the  human  race.  On  this 
subject,  the  following  illustration,  which  came  under  ray  own 
observation,  will  suffice  to  show  that  where  great  principles 
were  concerned,  his  characteristic  forbearance  had  its  just 
limits. 

"On  my  arrival  from  South  Africa,  in  1826,  I  found 
several  of  my  friends,  who  were  partly  ignorant  of  the  nature 
of  the  struggle  in  which  I  had  been  engaged,  under  great 
apprehensions  on  my  account  ;  and  my  friend  Dr.  Waugh 
was  of  the  number.  At  our  first  interview,  after  that  affec- 
tionate welcome  which  I  always  received  from  him,  having 
in  an  incidental  manner  discovered  his  fears  respecting  the 
course  I  had  taken  (and  it  was  more  in  his  look  than  in 
what  he  said),  I  remarked,  '  We  shall  not  now  enter  on  this 
subject;  but  I  am  coming  to  see  you  (mentioning  a  day  for 
the  purpose),  when  everything  shall  be  explained.'  When 
the  cclaircissement  took  place,  we  were  seated  in  his  study. 
His  attention  was  riveted,  from  the  commencement  of  my 
narrative,  and  he  never  once  interrupted  me  during  the 
whole  of  my  details ;  but  I  could  easily  perceive  from  his 
expressive  countenance  that  he  comprehended  me  as  I  pro- 
ceeded in  my  statement,  that  the  subject  in  its  true  bearings 
was  perfectly  new  to  him,  and  that  I  had  opened  to  him  a 
new  leaf  in  the  history  of  human  depravity,  which  filled 
him  with  commiseration  for  the  oppressed,  and  virtuous  in- 
dignation against  their  oppressors.  At  length,  toward  the 
close  of  the  recital,  rising  from  his  seat,  very  much  agitated, 
he  laid  his  hand  on  my  shoulder,  and  remarked,  in  his 
familiar  and  impressive  style,  with  a  tone  of  solemn  earnest- 
ness, and  with  an  elevation  of  voice  I  had  never  discovered 
in  him  before  (for  there  was  generally  a  softness  in  his  most 
solemn  moments,  which  sustained  the  mind  under  an  ap- 
pearance of  unmixed  awe)  : — '  My  friend,  you  will  never  die 
in  peace — I  would  not  have  the  horror  of  your  death-bed  for 


AS  A  DIRECTOR  OF  THE  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY.  237 

a  thousand  worlds — if  you  do  not  make  known  these  things  to 
the  public.' 

"Notwithstanding  all  the  Christian  caution  for  which  ho 
was  distinguished,  and  few  men  have  had  a  greater  share  of 
that  virtue,  he  never  altered  his  sentiments  in  regard  to  that 
particular  point.  While  many  others,  to  use  the  language  of 
an  esteemed  friend,  discovered  '  unmanly  fears,  and  the  hor- 
rors of  a  politicophobia,'  I  seldom  met  Dr.  Waugh  without 
his  reiterating  the  inquiry  whether  the  publication  was  yet 
in  the  press;  and  this  inquiry  was  invariably  followed  by 
some  remarks  of  the  same  character  with  those  he  first  ad- 
dressed to  me  on  hearing  my  statement,  to  urge  its  speedy 
publication." 

We  cannot  more  appropriately  conclude  our  review  of  the 
subject  of  this  memoir  in  his  connection  with  the  cause  of  mis- 
sions, than  by  applying  to  himself  the  terras  used  by  him  on 
moving  the  thanks  of  the  Society  to  one  of  its  late  secretaries 
at  a  public  meeting ;  and  the  speech  delivered  by  him  on  that 
occasion  will  be  still  more  solemnly  impressive,  if  we  venture  to 
suppose  the  address,  which  he  so  strikingly  calls  down  from  the 
awful  regions  of  the  unseen  world,  to  proceed  from  his  own 
departed  spirit,  as  if,  though  dead,  he  were  yet  speaking — 
speaking  from  beyond  the  grave  to  each  and  all  of  the  fellow- 
laborers  he  has  left  behind  to  prosecute  the  glorious  career  of 
conquest  upon  heathen  darkness  and  depravity,  under  the  Cap- 
tain of  our  salvation. 

"  Could  I  this  day  remove  the  veil  that  covers  the  heavenly 
world  ;  could  I  place  you  upon  the  summit  of  one  of  the  lumin- 
ous hills  of  paradise ;  could  I  impart  vigor  to  your  visual 
faculties,  and  extend  their  power  to  the  almost  interminable 
regions  of  the  blessed  ;  could  I  raise  your  eyes  to  the  Lamb  in 
the  midst  of  the  throne,  from  whose  countenance  beams  the 
felicity  of  the  redeemed ;  could  I  open  your  ears  to  the  songs 
of  the  conquerors,  and  the  acclamations  of  the  martyrs,  which, 
swelling  in  the  majesty  of  thunder,  ascend  through  the  expanse 
of  heaven,  and  fill  with  acceptance  the  ear  of  God ;  could  I 
cheer  your  hearts  with  the   sight  of  multitudes  entering,  in 


238  HIS  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  BIBLE  SOCIETY. 

blessed  succession,  through  tbe  mediation  of  Jesus,  from  Hin- 
dostan,  from  Africa,  and  the  islands  of  the  Southern  Sea — the 
trophies  of  Divine  power,  the  purchase  of  the  Saviour's  blood, 
the  gems  that  shall  ever  sparkle  in  the  Mediator's  crown,  the 
first-fruits  of  the  missionary  labors — what  inspiration  would  the 
glorious  objects  impart  to  your  souls  !  AVork,  O  work  while  it 
is  day  !  Whatever  your  minds  find  to  suggest,  whatever  your 
hands  find  to  do,  do  it  now.  No  device,  no  work  in  the  grave  ! 
Turn  your  moistened  eyes  to  my  yet  recent  grave,  and  let  the 
sight  arouse,  animate,  and  sustain  your  exertions.  I  did  a 
little  ;  and  if  my  constitution  sunk  under  the  pressure,  I  regret 
that  my  nerves  were  not  nerves  of  brass,  and  my  limited 
measure  of  three-score  years  and  ten  did  not  extend  to  an 
antediluvian  age.  Should  your  hearts  ever  feel  languor  invad- 
ing their  powers  of  action,  hasten  to  Calvary.  There,  redeem- 
ing love  will  invigorate  your  fading  faculties,  and  constrain 
you  to  put  forth  all  your  strength  in  the  cause  of  Him  who 
bled  for  you.  Look  forward,  each  of  you,  to  the  eventful  hour 
when  the  Son  of  God  shall  pronounce  over  you  the  sentence 
that  shall  ever  form  your  destiny  of  blessedness  :  '  Well 
done,  good  and  faithful  servant,  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy 
Lord.' " 

In  describing  Dr.  Waugh's  connection  with  other  public 
associations,  we  have  next  to  notice  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society,  in  which  he  took  a  deep  interest  from  its  com- 
mencement in  1804,  justly  anticipating  from  it  great  and 
most  important  results  to  the  interests  of  the  church  of  Christ 
in  every  part  of  the  world.  This  institution  (so  closely  and 
beneficially  connected  with  the  missionary  cause),  by  the 
simplicity  of  its  means,  the  energy  of  its  operations,  and  the 
wide  field  over  which  it  extends,  has  conferred  an  invaluable 
boon  on  the  human  race  ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  enemies 
it  has  had  to  encounter  on  every  side,  continues,  like  the  sun 
in  the  heavens,  to  pursue  its  peaceful  and  glorious  course, 
dispensing  the  light  of  life  and  salvation  to  those  who  were 
dwelling  in  darkness  and   the  shadow  of  death.      Let  every 


SPEECH    AT    A    DIBLti    SOCIETY.  2CI0 

lover  of  the  Saviour  hail  its  triumphant  progress  in  the  words 
of  Moses,  when  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  went  forward  be- 
fore the  congregation  of  Israel  :  "Uise  up,  Lord  !  and  let  thine 
enemies  be  scattered,  and  let  them  that  hate  thee  flee  before 
thee." 

On  subjects  so  well  known  as  the  objects  and  history  of 
this  great  institution,  we  need  not  enlarge ;  but  shall  content 
ourselves  with  a  brief  extract  from  a  communication  respect- 
ing Dr.  Waugh's  connection  with  it,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hughes, 
one  of  its  secretaries,  greatly  distinguished  for  his  zealous 
labors. 

"In  his  public  addresses  he  evinced  no  small  portion  of 
originality  and  vigor,  which,  combined  with  graphic  descrip- 
tion, a  manner  alternately  pleasant  and  solemn,  and  an  expres- 
sion of  countenance  in  perfect  keeping  with  all  the  diversity  of 
his  tones  and  sentiments,  served  to  rivet  the  attention  of  his 
auditors,  and  to  engrave  before  them  the  features  of  whatever 
cause  he  undertook  to  advocate.  I  speak,  however,  with  a 
Special  reference  to  his  pleadings  on  behalf  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society, — an  institution  which  he  fondly  cherish- 
ed, and  never  more  fondly  than  when  he  saw  it  assailed  witli 
reckless  violence." 

We  can  only  find  room  for  the  following  specimen  of  his 
public  pleadings  in  this  cause.  It  is  a  speech  delivered  at  the 
formation  of  an  auxiliary  society  in  that  part  of  the  town  where 
he  resided,  and  for  which  he  afterwards  acted  as  secretary  until 
his  death  ;  and  may  serve  to  show  in  what  manner  he  felt 
and  co-operated  with  other  good  men  in  their  exertions  to  pro- 
mote the  great  object  of  a  universal  diffusion  of  the  Word  of 
God. 

"In  rising  to  second  the  motion  for  the  formation  of  ;.. 
North-west  London  Auxiliary  Bible  Society,  I  beg  leave  to 
state,  from  my  own  personal  knowledge  (for  I  have  spent  the 
best  part  of  my  life  in  tin  district),  that  I  am  aware  then- 
may  be  places  in  London  in  a  more  calamitous  condition  as 
to  ignorance  and  want  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  ; — for  this  dis- 
trict  possesses    privileges    in   this    respect,  principally  owing, 


240  SPEECH    AT    A    BIBLE    SOCIETY. 

under  God,  to  the  pious  and  benevolent  efforts  of  ray  excel- 
lent brother  (the  Rev.  Basil  Wood),  whose  zeal  in  spreading 
the  knowledge  of  Christ  all  around  his  neighborhood,  espe- 
cially on  young  and  untutored  minds,  has  produced  the  most 
salutary  effects;  —  but  it  was  found,  notwithstanding,  in  the 
visit  we  made  throughout  the  district,  that,  on  the  average, 
there  is  but  one  Bible  among  nine  persons ;  and  that  in  one 
particular  place,  the  destitution  was  such  that  we  did  not 
find  the  whole  of  God's  word,  but  only  a  single  copy  of  the 
New  Testament,  in  a  population  of  one  hundred  and  forty  per- 
sons. 

"  The  object  of  the  society  now  to  be  formed  is  not,  however, 
limited  to  our  own  particular  district.  The  institution  is  in- 
tended, like  a  small  stream  silently  falling  into  a  great  river,  to 
impart  to  the  parent  society  whatever  measure  of  strength  and 
vigor  it  may  possess,  in  order  that  the  wilderness  and  the  soli- 
tray  place  in  distant  lands  may  be  made  glad,  and  the  desert 
rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose.  The  boon  which  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society  holds  out,  she  holds  out  not  to  the 
inhabitants  of  this  island  only,  nor  even  of  Europe,  but  of  the 
world, — to  the  great  family  of  man. 

"The  blessing  she  offers  is  of  boundless  magnitude  and 
worth.  Christianity  evinces  her  celestial  origin  by  her  adapta- 
tion to  the  present  state  of  man.  She  finds  the  human 
mind  in  every  place  enveloped  in  deepest  darkness  ;  in  igno- 
rance of  those  objects  which  it  greatly  behooves  the  mind  to 
know  ;  in  ignorance  of  the  nature  and  character  of  the  Creator 
and  Governor  of  the  world,  of  the  laws  by  which  human  con- 
duct should  be  regulated,  and  of  those  high  hopes  of  the 
future  grandeur  and  felicity  of  our  being,  which  it  was  re- 
served for  the  Son  of  God  to  create,  to  authorize,  and  to 
cherish  in  our  bosoms.  Christianity  brings  to  them  who  sit  in 
darkness  and  in  the  shadow  of  death,  the  light  that  comes 
from  heaven  and  leads  to  future  blessedness.  Its  influence 
on  the  understanding  hath  been  such,  that  the  poorest  peas- 
ant in  the  land,  who  reads  the  Holy  Bible,  and  forms  his 
sentiments  uu  iU  instructions,  hath  more  just  idea>  of  God 


SPEECH    AT    A    BIBLE    SOCIETY.  241 

and  of  man,  of  sin  and  of  duty,  of  life  and  of  immortality, 
than  the  greatest  men  of  Athens,  whether  they  taught  in  the 
Lyceum,  the  Portico,  or  the  Academic  Grove.  Christianity 
finds  man  everywhere  groaning  under  conscious  guilt,  and 
seeking  peace  in  the  oblation  of  flocks  and  herds,  in  the  sever- 
est bodily  austerities,  and,  in  some  instances,  offering  the 
first-born  for  the  father's  transgression,  the  fruit  of  his  body 
for  the  sin  of  his  soul.  In  this  distress  of  the  mind,  she  di- 
rects his  anxious  and  exploring  eye  to  an  atonement, — an 
atonement  which  Heaven  itself  provided  and  has  accepted, — 
an  atonement,  the  efficacy  of  which  reaches  back  to  the  first 
offence,  and  is  powerful  to  cancel  the  last  transgression  of  our 
fallen  nature.  Christianity  finds  the  human  heart  every- 
where degraded  and  diseased,  the  passions  off  their  poise,  the 
(lame  of  heavenly  affection  gone  out,  and  a  strange  fire  of  hell 
enkindled,  burning  on  the  altar;  and  she  makes  provision 
for  the  recovery  of  moral  order  in  the  soul,  of  purity,  and  of 
health.  Man  needs  consolation,  and  Christianity  presents 
the  cup.  She  reveals  a  Father,  whose  bosom  is  the  dwelling- 
place  of  pity :  she  reveals  a  Providence,  universal  as  to  its 
objects,  infinitely  gracious  in  its  operations,  wise  beyond  the 
possibility  of  error  in  its  arrangements,  and  sustained  by  the 
energies  of  Omnipotence.  The  rich  promises  of  that  Bible 
which  my  honored  friend  in  such  an  impressive  manner  held 
up  to  you  (and  to  which,  were  the  homage  allowed  to  any- 
thing but  its  Author,  we  would  have  bowed  the  knee),  the 
exceeding  great  and  precious  promises  of  that  book, — these 
contain  the  consolations  which  the  Gospel  presents  in  the 
time  of  sickness  and  in  the  hour  of  death.  You  have  this 
morning  heard  that  truth  from  the  chair ;  and  it  came  with 
dignified  propriety,  because  he  who  gave  expression  to  it  has 
lately  felt  its  power  on  his  own  heart.  Ah,  my  honored 
fellow-Christians !  there  is  (and  well  we  know  it),  in  the 
humble  walks  of  life  especially,  many  an  honest  heart,  bereft 
of  friends,  struggling  with  adversity,  pining  under  sickness ; 
a  father  surrounded  with  little  children  who  look  up  to  him 
for  the  bread  he  Las  not  to  give,  -  whom    nothing  could  pre- 

1 1 


242  SPEECH    AT    A    BIBLE    SOCIETY. 

serve  from  the  agonies  of  despair,  from  foul  and  dark  deeds, 
but  the  promises  of  this  book.  But  not  to  this  life  are  the 
benefits  which  the  Bible  brings  to  us  to  be  confined.  They 
extend  their  influence  in  preparing  us  for  that  high  state  of 
being,  of  action,  and  of  blessedness,  to  which  we  are  destined, — 
that  state  in  which  our  faculties  shall  evolve,  and  all  the  hidden 
stores  of  the  immortal  mind  be  disclosed, — that  state  in  which 
the  redeemed  shall  make  approaches  nearer  and  nearer  to  the 
infinite  Author  of  light  and  goodness,  without  the  possibility 
of  ever  becoming  like  him, — that  state  in  which  the  powers  of 
our  exalted  nature,  prepared  by  the  discipline  of  religion,  shall 
brighten  through  all  eternity  ! 

"  Were  I  able  at  this  hour  to  open  the  springs  of  health,  and 
to  restore  to  a  debilitated  constitution  all  its  former  strength 
and  vigor, — were  I  able  to  measure  the  distance  of  stars,  and 
to  inform  this  august  assembly  when  the  late  celestial  visitant 
should  again  return  to  our  sphere, — were  I  able  to  weigh  in 
the  balance  of  political  discernment  the  fate  of  kingdoms,  and 
tell  you  whether  this  land,  where  liberty  has  found  refuge  from 
the  tyranny  of  thrones  and  the  madness  of  the  people,  be  des- 
tined to  remain  her  impregnable  fortress, — such  knowledge, 
under  the  guidance  of  a  good  heart,  might  be  eminently  useful 
in  this  world.  But  this  knowledge,  for  aught  we  can  perceive, 
might  die  with  its  possessors ;  while  the  knowledge  which  the 
Bible  imparts  to  the  mind  will  extend  its  usefulness  to  external 
ages. 

"  Your  Royal  Highness,  the  nobles  of  the  land,  this  most 
respectable  assembly,  enjoying  as  we  do  such  benefits,  how 
shall  we  justify  the  high  claim  we  make  to  the  meltings  of 
Christian  sensibility,  if,  without  emotion,  and  determination 
of  heart  to  relieve,  we  can  look  around  on  so  large  a  portion 
of  our  race,  on  whose  minds  the  light  of  revelation  hath  not 
yet  arisen?  Of  nine  hundred  millions,  how  small  the  propor- 
tion of  those  who  have  heard  the  joyful  sound  of  pardon,  and 
health,  and  of  life  beyond  the  grave !  We,  who  live  in  a 
country  where  law  rules,  and  on  the  manners  of  whose  inhabi- 
tants  Christianity   hath    produced    the   most   blessed   effects, 


SPEECH    AT    A    BIBLE    SOCIETY.  243 

can  ill  conceive  the  darkness  and  the  excess  of  wickedness 
which  prevail  in  heathen  lands.  In  this  melancholy  state  they 
seem  to  turn  their  eyes  to  us,  and  looking  wistfully  on  us,  to 
say,  '  Your  cup  runneth  over, — our  lips  are  parched.  You 
have  bread  enough  and  to  spare, — we  perish  for  hunger.  O  that 
one  would  give  to  us  also  to  drink  of  the  water  of  the  well  of 
Bethlehem  !'  Is  it  possible  that  an  appeal  of  this  nature  can 
be  made  to  our  hearts,  and  the  graceful  indignation  of  our  souls 
against  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eye,  and  the  pride 
of  life,  not  be  awakened  ?  Will  not  every  virtuous  mind  ex- 
claim, '  Away  !  be  gone  out  of  my  sight !  I  this  day  consecrate 
my  energies  and  my  substance  to  the  cause  of  humanity,  to  the 
spiritual  illumination  of  the  poor  heathen,  to  those  truths 
which  give  importance  to  our  existence,  and  make  it  worth  a 
man's  while  to  live.' 

"  From  this  blessed  island, — blessed  above  all  the  islands 
that  bespot  the  bosom  of  the  deep — blessed  at  an  early  pe- 
riod with  the  knowledge  of  uncorrupted  Christianity — bless- 
ed with  equal  laws — blessed  with  princes  who  identify  their 
happiness  with  the  happiness  of  their  subjects, — from  this 
island,  as  formerly  from  Mount  Zion,  shall  emanate  the  light 
of  heaven,  to  scatter  the  darkness  in  which  the  world  is  in- 
volved, and  introduce  the  long-predicted  reign  of  piety  and  of 
peace. 

"  To  speak  of  motives  to  induce  you  to  support  a  cause  of 
this  nature,  would  be  to  insult  every  good  feeling  in  your 
bosoms.  I  assume  it,  and  surely  I  am  only  doing  justice  to 
your  benevolent  hearts  in  the  assumption,  that  the  love  of 
Christ  constrains  you  to  this  work  of  exalted  beneficence.  It  is 
a  motive  of  irresistible  energy, — a  motive  that  unites,  purifies, 
and  strengthens  all  the  faculties  of  our  nature. 

'k  My  reverend  and  excellent  brother  who  spoke  first,  men- 
tioned the  blessed  co-operation  among  all  the  denominations 
that  bear  the  Christian  name,  which  this  institution  has  pro- 
duced. In  truth,  this  is  not  the  cause  of  a  party  ;  hut  it  is 
a  cause  that  will  unite  every  party.  It  is  the  great  load- 
stone of  holy  and  benevolent  allections.     The  Son  of  mail  is 


244  SUPPORT    OF   THE    SCOTTISH    HOSPITAL. 

lifted  up ;  and  by  means  of  the  growing  knowledge  of  that 
book,  every  page  of  which  is  illumined  with  his  glory,  and  per- 
fumed with  his  grace,  he  is  drawing  all  men  after  him.  What, 
then,  must  be  the  apathy  of  that  mind  which  feels  not  this  at- 
tracting virtue !  What  honor  does  every  man  secure  to  his 
own  heart  by  supporting  this  cause !  Your  character  for  pious 
beneficence  will  this  day  acquire  additional  lustre,  and  by  your 
unceasing  zeal  you  will  fix  your  own  reputation.  What  is  gen- 
erous and  liberal,  what  is  worthy  of  yourselves  and  suitable  to 
your  obligations,  you  will  do ;  and  the  blessing  of  millions  who 
are  ready  to  perish,  like  the  dew  of  heaven,  will  rest  upon  your 
habitations. 

"I  have  addressed  these  thoughts  to  you,  tremblingly 
alive  to  a  sense  of  my  inability  to  do  what  my  heart  irre- 
sistibly urges  me  to  do.  Could  I  have  pleaded  the  cause 
better,  I  would  have  done  it.  Say  anything  of  the  speaker 
that  may  affect  the  measure  of  his  original  faculties,  or  the 
culture  of  his  powers ;  but  you  shall  not  be  allowed  to  say 
that  he  is  unwilling  to  spend  and  to  be  spent  in  the  service  of 
a  cause  which  gathers  its  importance  from  God  and  from  im- 
mortality." 

In  commemorating  Dr.  Waugh's  exertions  in  connection 
with  philanthropic  institutions,  we  must  not  overlook  the  Scot- 
tish Hospital, — a  charity  which  always  brought  into  exercise 
the  kindliest  affections  of  his  nature.  It  has  been  correctly 
described  as  "  a  charity  applicable  to  the  poor  mechanic,  the 
artieran,  and  labors,  natives  of  Scotland,  with  their  wives, 
widows,  and  children,  resident  in  this  metropolis  and  its 
immediate  neighborhood,  who,  not  having  acquired  any  pa- 
rochial settlement  in  this  country,  would,  in  age  and  poverty, 
in  sickness  and  distress,  or  when  in  want  of  employment,  be 
exposed  to  the  utmost  wretchedness  or  beggary  but  for  its 
fostering  care." 

Dr.  Waugh  joined  this  institution  in  1788,  and  continued 
one  of  its  most  zealous  and  efficient  members  for  thirty-seven 
years,  aud  never  once  relaxed  in  his  exertions  to  promote  its 


AND    OTHER    PHILANTHROPIC    INSTITUTIONS.  245 

interests,  till  his  health  was  broken  down  by  age  and  infirmi- 
ties. The  late  Dr.  Hunter,  himself  an  indefatigable  benefac- 
tor to  the  Society,  was  accustomed  to  urge  him,  on  his  first 
arrival  in  London,  to  take  a  warm  interest  in  its  administra- 
tion. "You  are  the  man,  depend  upon  it,"  he  would  say, 
"  to  take  up  my  mantle  when  I  shall  let  it  fall."  Like  our 
great  Master,  who  went  about  doing  good,  he  was  ever  ten- 
derly alive  to  the  bodily  privations,  as  well  as  to  the  spiritual 
necessities  of  his  fellow-men.  There  was,  besides,  a  deep 
nationality  of  character  interwoven  with  the  very  frame  and 
texture  of  his  mind,  so  that  he  never  felt  a  sweeter  pleasure 
in  his  own  bosom,  nor  communicated  higher  delight  to  others, 
than  when  pleading  the  cause  of  his  poor  and  destitute  coun- 
trymen. Never  were  the  energies  of  his  mind  or  the  benev- 
olent affections  of  his  heart  more  advantageously  displayed 
than  when  speaking  on  this,  to  him  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing of  all  topics,  at  the  annual  festival  of  the  society.  It 
was,  indeed,  to  all  around  him,  "  the  feast  of  reason  and  the  flow 
of  soul." 

He  became  also,  soon  after  his  arrival  in  London,  a  member 
of  the  Corresponding  Board  of  the  Society  for  propagating 
Christianity  in  the  Highlands  and  Islands  of  Scotland.  "We 
feel  it  impossible  to  convey  to  the  reader  an  adequate  idea  of 
the  welcome  which  he  was  wont  to  receive  at  the  annual  festi- 
val of  this  institution,  and  at  that  of  the  Scottish  Hospital. 
One  simultaneous  burst  of  feeling,  replete  alike  with  enthusias- 
tic esteem  and  with  affectionate  attachment,  greeted  the  appear- 
ance of  his  well-known  and  venerable  form.  He  was  considered 
as  national  property,  while  each  individual  felt  and  claimed  him 
as  his  own.  Never  were  the  triumphs  of  his  eloquence  more 
complete  than  when  engaged  in  awakening  into  active  and  char- 
itable exertion  the  pious  principles  and  national  sympathies  of 
his  countrymen.  But  we  injure  the  subject.  It  was  a  tribute 
whose  value  can  be  justly  appreciated  only  by  him  who  was 
fortunate  enough  to  be  among  the  number  of  those  by  whom  it 
was  paid. 

We  might  here  mention  various  other  institutions,  such  as 


246  MILL   HILL    GRAMMAR   SCHOOL. 

the  Hibernian,  the  Irish  Evangelical,  the  Religious  Tract,  and 
the  Anti-slavery  Societies,  the  Mill  Hill  Academy,  &c,  &c. : 
in  advancing  the  objects  of  which  he  took  a  deep  and  active  in- 
terest. 

To  the  last-mentioned  institution,  his  energies  were  partic- 
ularly devoted,  from  its  rise  to  the  close  of  his  life.  He  was  a 
constant  member  of  the  examination  committee,  and  to  this  day 
the  former  pupils  retain  the  most  vivid  and  grateful  recollec- 
tions of  his  quarterly  and  half-yearly  visits.  We  insert  the  two 
following  anecdotes  furnished  to  us  by  a  member  of  the  com- 
mittee, a  gentleman  deeply  imbued  with  Dr.  Waugh's  own  beau- 
tiful spirit. 

"  For  some  years  after  the  establishment  of  the  Dissenters' 
Grammar  School  at  Mill  Hill,  the  patrons  and  friends  of 
that  important  institution  met  at  an  annual  dinner  in  Lon- 
don. On  one  of  these  occasions,  Dr.  Waugh's  health  having 
been  drank,  after  briefly  returning  his  thanks,  he  adverted 
to  the  many  advantages  of  such  a  seminary  within  a  few 
miles  of  the  metropolis.  Among  these,  he  specified  the  pic- 
turesque beauties  of  the  immediate  locality,  and  their  prob- 
able effects  in  the  formation  of  character.  This  led  him  to 
expatiate,  with  that  correctness  of  taste  and  ecstacy  of  feel- 
ing, which  he  always  evinced  on  such  occasions,  upon  the 
sublime  scenery  of  his  native  country,  and  its  palpable  effect 
on  the  sons  of  Scotland.  In  the  midst  of  his  address  he  was 
interrupted  by  the  rude  and  obstreperous  laughter  of  two 
young  gentlemen  present,  and  the  words  of  disapprobation 
from  the  company  generally  by  which  the  interruption  was  suc- 
ceeded. Assuming  the  richest  and  most  soothing  of  the  Scot- 
tish tones,  he  exclaimed,  '  Be  not  angry,  gentlemen  ;  be  not  an- 
gry. Rather  pity  the  lads  than  blame ;  for  it  was  not  the  laugh 
of  contempt,  but  the  laugh  of  ignorance — and  ignorance  always 
claims  your  pity.  Ken  you  not  that  the  poor  bairns  have  never 
been  in  Scotland  ? 

"  At  one  of  the  half-yearly  examinations  at  the  Mill  Hill 
school,  the  head  master  informed  the  examiners  that  he  had 
been  exceedingly  tried  by  the  misconduct  and  perverseness  of 


UNIVERSAL   BENEVOLENCE.  24*7 

a  boy  who  had  done  something  very  wrong ;  and  who, 
though  he  acknowledged  the  fact,  could  not  be  brought  to 
acknowledge  the  magnitude  of  the  offence.  The  examiners 
were  requested  to  expostulate  with  the  boy,  and  try  if  he 
could  be  brought  to  feel  and  deplore  it.  Dr.  Waugh  was  so- 
licited to  undertake  the  task ;  and  the  boy  was  in  consequence 
brought  before  him.  'How  long  have  you  been  at  the 
school,  my  boy?'  asked  the  Doctor.  'Four  months,  sir.' 
'When  did  you  hear  from  your  father  last?'  'My  father's 
dead,  sir.'  'Aye!  alas  the  day!  I  am  very  sorry  to  hear 
that  'lis  a  great  loss,  a  great  loss,  that  of  a  father.  But 
God  can  make  it  up  to  you  by  giving  you  a  tender,  affec- 
tionate mother.'  On  this,  the  boy  who  had  previously  seemed 
as  hard  as  a  Hint,  began  to  soften.  The  Doctor  proceeded : 
4  Well,  laddie,  where's  your  mother?'  'On  her  voyage 
home  from  India,  sir.'  'Aye!  good  news  for  you,  my  boy; 
do  you  love  your  mother?'  'Yes,  sir.'  'And  do  you  ex- 
pect to  see  her  soon  V  '  Yes,  sir.'  '  Do  you  think  she 
loves  you?'1  'Yes,  sir,  I'm  sure  of  it'  'Then  think,  my 
dear  laddie,  think  of  her  feelings  when  she  comes  here,  and 
finds  that,  instead  of  your  being  in  favor  with  every  one, 
you  are  in  such  deep  disgrace  as  to  run  the  risk  of  expulsion; 
and  yet  are  too  hardened  to  acknowledge  that  you  have 
done  wrong.  Winna  ye  break  your  poor  mother's  heart,  think 
ye  ?  Just  think  o'  that,  my  lad !'  The  poor  culprit  burst 
into  a  flood  of  tears,  acknowledged  his  fault,  and  promised 
amendment." 

But  we  must  draw  to  a  close  this  division  of  the  memoir,  and 
cannot  do  so  in  more  appropriate  language  than  by  adopting  the 
words  of  one  of  his  friends  and  associates  in  these  labors  of 
love  and  mercy. 

"  Where,  in  this  vast  metropolis,  shall  we  find  an  individ- 
ual who  combined  so  much  that  was  energetic  in  action 
with  so  much  that  was  kind  and  conciliatory  in  disposition 
and  social  intercourse?  Where  shall  we  fine  one  institution 
formed  either  to  relieve  the  mere  distresses  of  the  body,  or  to 
alleviate  the   more  painful   maladies   of  the  mind,  that  did 


248  UNIVERSAL   BENEVOLENCE. 

not  benefit,  and  that  materially,  by  his  public  advocacy,  or 
by  the  weight  of  his  private  character  and  influence?  He 
was  the  habitual  friend  and  unwearied  supporter  of  hospitals, 
schools,  penitentiaries,  and  of  every  other  humane  undertak- 
ing which  went  to  diminish  the  amount  of  national  misery 
and  crime,  and  to  augment  the  sum  of  national  virtue  and  hap- 
piness." 


CHAPTER   IV. 


HIS    FRIENDSHIPS. 

Extracts  from  his  correspondence,  with  remarks,  viz.  Letters  to  a  youth 
at  college — to  a  young  friend  in  India — to  another,  an  emigrant  to 
South  Africa — to  a  friend  ordained  to  the  ministry.  Readiness  to 
assist  country  ministers.  Visitation  of  the  distressed  and  dying — 
anecdote.  Letters  of  consolation  : — to  a  mother  bereaved  of  her  child 
— to  a  father  on  the  death  of  an  only  son — to  a  widowed  mourner — 
to  the  widow  of  a  deceased  friend — to  a  friend  on  the  death  of  a  pa- 
rent— to  a  friend  distressed — to  a  friend  dying.  Address  at  the  fu- 
neral of  Rev.  Mr.  Townsend.  To  a  friend  under  misapprehension  of 
his  conduct.  A  good-humored  hint.  Ordinary  correspondence.  Rem- 
iniscences of  early  days.  Miscellaneous  extracts.  Descriptions  of 
natural  scenery.  Advice  to  a  young  lady.  Friendships  with  the 
high  and  the  humble :  old  John  Ker.  His  general  character  as  a 
friend  and  companion — urbanity — talent  for  anecdote — pleasantry — 
aversion  from  evil  speaking — modesty — letter — cheerfulness.  Kind- 
ness to  his  predecessor's  widow. 

Much  of  a  man's  heart  may  be  traced  in  his  friendships ; 
and  it  is  a  delightful  proof  of  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  the 
Almighty,  that  while  in  friendship  we  enjoy  a  pure  and  sweet 
satisfaction,  it  presents  us  with  a  sphere  for  the  most  benefi- 
cial services.  Religion  is  supposed,  by  those  who  know  it 
not,  to  damp  the  ardor  and  to  limit  the  enjoyments  of  friend- 
ship;  but,  in  reality,  its  spirit  of  love  prompts  to  every  kind 
office,  and  to  every  gen(  rous  deed  ;  its  self-denial  makes  those 
sacrifices  of  personal  indulgence  and  feeling,  by  which  irritation 
and  jealousy  are  precluded  ;  and  its  intercessions  bear  with 
them  the  object  of  our  regard  to  that  Throne  of  Grace,  where 
our  best  affections  are  strengthened  and  blessed  by  the  power 
of  devotion. 

11* 


250  HIS    FRIENDSHIPS. 

Few  have  shone  in  friendship  like  Dr.  Waugh.  To  the 
companions  of  his  youth  who  were  preserved,  like  himself,  to 
advanced  years,  he  continued  attached  through  life ;  and 
though  so  far  removed  from  many  of  them  that  they  rarely 
met, — and  though  placed  in  a  scene  where  the  bustle,  the 
fascinations,  and  the  varieties  of  a  metropolis,  would  have 
detached  many  a  heart  from  all  its  partialities  for  friends  in 
obscurity, — he  delighted  to  think  of  them,  and  to  speak  of 
them ;  and  often  in  society  the  most  imposing  to  ordinary 
minds,  would  his  heart  turn  to  the  worth  in  the  shade, 
which,  though  overlooked  on  earth,  was  prized  in  heaven. 
In  the  young  he  felt  a  peculiar  interest,  and  their  improve- 
ment in  wisdom  and  piety  was  his  great  object.  His  counsels 
to  them  were  judicious  and  appropriate,  and,  instead  of  being 
expressed  in  that  tone  of  arrogant  superiority,  which  irritates 
the  spirit  of  youth,  they  were  given  with  all  the  mildness 
and  kindness  of  a  father.  To  a  young  friend  at  College  he 
wrote : — 

"January  1,  1788. 

"  I  hope  you  are  making  satisfactory  progress  in  your  studies. 
Ever  remember,  that  the  culture  of  the  heart  is  the  most  becom- 
ing exercise,  and  that  without  this,  all  other  acquirements  are 
nothing.  Want  of  supreme  love  to  God  and  man  is  a  far  greater 
blemish  in  the  character  than  a  palpable  deficiency  in  arranging 
ideas,  or  in  expounding  Greek  and  Roman  phrases.  Be  frequent- 
ly in  your  closet,  and  remember  the  Hearer  of  prayer  looks  to 
the  heart.  Examine  with  candor  the  claim  which  Christianity 
makes  to  a  Divine  original,  and  espouse  her  cause  from  a  settled 
conviction  of  its  heavenly  birth  and  innate  excellence.  Suffer 
not  your  mind  to  be  shaken  by  the  insinuations  of  able  and  in- 
fidel men.  There  are  few  causes  so  bad,  that  great  talents  can- 
not adorn  and  recommend  them  to  the  simple  and  unsuspecting. 
Read  no  bad  books,  for  they  pollute  the  mind.  Be  the  willing 
slave  of  evidence,  and  adhere  to  it,  though  you  cannot  solve  the 
objections  which  sophists  may  raise  against  it.  There  is  a  paper 
in  one  of  Johnson's  Ramblers,  signed  '  Pertinax,'  wbich  contains 
excellent  thoughts  on  this  subject.  Campbell  on  Miracles,  and 
Beattie's  Evidences  of  Christianity,  with  Addison's  valuable  frag- 
ment, and  Pascal's  Thoughts,  are  treatises  which  you  ought  to 


LETTER    TO    A    YOUTH    AT    COLLEGE.  251 

read,  and  to  make  the  subjects  of  them  the  matter  of  your  most  se- 
rious inquiry. 

"  As  to  the  way  of  life  in  which,  with  your  father's  approba- 
tion, you  wish  to  engage,  it  is  a  very  delicate  matter  to  say  any- 
thing to  you  :  indeed  no  man  can  prudently  advise  you.  Consid- 
er in  your  own  mind  what  you  are  fittest  for  ;  ask  your  own 
heart  what  arc  the  motives  which  induce  you  to  give  the  prefer- 
ence to  one  profession  above  another,  and  see  if  those  motives  are 
justifiable.  If  you  mean  to  devote  yourself  to  the  ministry,  and 
are  s;i  tidied  concerning  the  creed  and  government  of  the  Scottish 
Church,  I  believe  that,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  you  may  be  use- 
ful in  the  Secession,  provided  you  can  submit  to  the  prospect  of 
a  small  and  precarious  subsistence,  and  yield  to  the  humor  and, 
caprice  of  the  people.  Were  the  support  of  her  ministers  inde- 
pendent of  the  congregations,  and  their  minds  freed  from  all 
temptations  to  unmanly  silence,  or  chiming  in  with  the  popular 
follies  of  the  day,  I  know  no  church  in  which  a  good  man  might 
be  more  agreeably  as  well  as  beneficially  engaged,  than  in  the 
Secession.  The  character  of  her  ministers  for  learning  and 
knowledge  of  divine  things ;  the  general  good  behavior  of  pro- 
fessors ;  the  Scriptural  foundation  of  her  doctrines  and  ecclesias- 
tical polity,  with  her  disinterested  and  generous  appearance  in 
behalf  of  a  good  cause  against  an  enslaved  body  in  the  establish- 
ment, are  very  pleasant  things  indeed.  But  your  own  mind  must 
pronounce  the  way  in  which  you  are  to  walk.  Let  your  eyes  be 
towards  God  for  counsel  and  direction  ;  and  make  the  views  of  the 
Bible,  and  not  the  maxims  of  a  degenerate  world,  your  standard  of 
judging." 

Nothing  can  be  more  judicious  than  such  counsels,  or  more 
necessary  ;  for  the  pride  of  science  Js  unwilling  to  bow  to  the 
Cross  ;  and  knowledge,  especially  in  the  young,  puffeth  up. 
If  this  letter  evinces  a  strong  partiality  to  the  religious  so- 
ciety with  which  he  was  connected,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  expression  of  this  was  necessary  at  that  period,  when 
dissent  was  likely  to  expose  a  young  man  to  petulant  ridicule. 
It  is  a  proof  how  firmly  Dr.  Waugh  was  attached  to  the 
church  to  which  he  belonged,  that  he  cherished  and  avowed 
such  sentiments  in  a  place  where,  at  that  time,  he  stood  almost 
alone,  and  when  he  was  far  removed  from  the  scenes  where  his 


252  LETTERS    TO    A    YOUNG    FRIEND    IN    INDIA. 

fathers  and  brethren  were  striving  together  for  the  faith  of  the 
Gospel.  The  object  of  the  letter  was  not  to  foster  blind  bigotry, 
but  to  lead  his  correspondent  to  "  prove  all  things,  and  to  hold 
fast  that  which  is  good." 

Those  of  his  young  friends  who  went  abroad,  his  heart  fol- 
lowed with  the  most  affectionate  solicitude:  he  eagerly  em- 
braced every  opportunity  of  writing  to  them ;  and  his  letters 
were  not  the  gloomy  suggestions  of  a  monk,  but  cheerful, 
sagacious,  and  affectionate.  To  a  youth  in  a  strange  land, 
where,  amidst  the  cold  civilities  of  general  society,  or  the  de- 
pressing influence  of  loneliness  and  solitude,  the  heart  sighs 
for  the  voice  of  affection,  counsels  thus  kind  must  have  been 
peculiarly  solacing  :  while  the  conviction  of  his  wisdom  and 
piety  caused  them  to  be  received  with  the  highest  respect ;  and 
the  idea  that  they  came  from  his  heart,  would  open  the  whole 
soul  to  welcome  their  influence.  Authority  may  awe,  but  love 
wins  the  heart. 

We  give  the  following  specimens  from  letters  written  to  a 
young  man  who  had  been  brought  up  under  his  pastoral  care, 
and  who  had  gone  to  India  in  a  medical  capacity.  The 
reader  cannot  but  be  struck  with  the  suitableness  of  their 
counsels. 

"At  Sea,  June  12,  1819. 

"  My  Dear  William, — Your  account  of  your  views  and  feel- 
ings in  your  last  letter  gave  me  much  satisfaction,  as  it  evinced  a 
mind  which  change  of  scene  and  of  society  had  not  corrupted.  I 
have  always  considered  it  as  an  indication  of  something  good 
when  a  young  man,  separated  from  his  family,  loves  to  look  back 
on  the  days  of  youth,  and  innocence,  and  nature.  Dr.  Leyden's 
'  Scenes  of  Infancy,'  on  this  account  have  created  a  deep  interest 
in  the  hearts  of  the  good ;  as  '  The  Seasons,'  by  Thomson,  had 
done  before. 

"  In  your  intercourse  with  the  natives  of  Hindostan,  you  will 
see  the  baneful  effects  on  a  simple  and  tractable  people  of  super- 
stitious sentiment  combined  with  despotic  power.  You  will  per- 
ceive, also,  and  deeply  feel,  the  necessity  of  the  assistance  which 
Christianity  affords  in  delivering  the  mind  from  both.  You  saw 
in  England,  and  still   more   clearly  in   Scotland,  the   height  of 


LETTERS   TO    A    YOUNG    FRIEND    IN    INDIA.  253 

moral  and  manly  worth  to  which  the  instruction  and  discipline 
of  the  gospel  raises  the  character  of  man.  In  truth,  it  requires 
only  that  we  surrender  fully  and  perseveringly  our  souls  to  the 
authority  of  God  in  order  to  feel  the  transforming  influences  of 
Christianity  on  all  the  active  principles  of  our  souls,  and  to  in- 
troduce the  heart  into  a  scene  of  enjoyments  pure  as  their  heav- 
enly source,  and  enduring  as  our  deathless  natures.  Connect, 
then,  my  dear  William,  with  the  object  and  services  of  our  holy 
religion,  every  sentiment,  feeling,  and  principle  that  is  dignified, 
good,  and  useful,  the  perfection  of  our  nature,  and  the  security 
of  our  happiness.  In  the  possession  of  the  principles  of  regene- 
ration, you  find  the  surest  foundation  of  usefulness  and  honor, 
of  credit  to  your  name,  and  of  the  most  sacred  joy  to  your  excel- 
lent parents,  and  all  who  share  in  your  blood.  These  principles, 
however,  must  be  suckled  and  fostered  by  reading,  by  habits  of 
profitable  thinking,  and  by  the  exercises  of  secret  devotion.  The 
daily  reading  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the  honest  application 
of  the  laws,  the  facts,  and  the  promises  which  they  contain,  to 
the  regulation  of  our  conduct  and  the  increase  of  our  consolation, 
are  indispensably  necessary.  The  mind  needs  to  be  as  constantly 
recruited  as  the  body.  It  is  by  drinking  in  the  sincere,  or  una- 
dulterated, milk  of  the  word,  that  the  soul  grows  in  piety  and 
goodness,  as  truly  as  it  is  that  the  infant  grows  by  partaking  of 
the  provision  with  which  the  God  of  nature  hath  supplied  the 
mother's  breast.  There  are  diseases,  also,  that  affect  the  mind 
as  well  as  the  body.  I  am  convinced  that  you  will  be  as  much 
on  your  guard  against  an  infectious  atmosphere  as  any  young 
man,  but  you  cannot  exceed  in  your  caution.  There  is  in  our 
fallen  nature  a  melancholy  predisposition  to  catch  moral  infection, 
against  which  it  will  require  more  care  than  our  own  to  defend  us. 
By  prayer  and  trust,  we  engage  the  guardianship  of  Heaven  on 
our  side. 

"  These  thoughts  I  know  you  will  receive  as  they  are  intended  : 
you  will  not  ascribe  them  to  profession,  but  to  a  heart  that  tenderly 
feels  for  your  best  interests. 

"  I  must  account  for  the  strange  date  of  my  scrawl.  I  am  off 
the  Yorkshire  coast,  on  a  journey  to  the  North,  for  the  purpose 
of  pleading  the  cause  of  the  sons  of  the  strangers,  and  replenish- 
ing the  funds  of  our  Missionary  Society.  I  fear  your  road  of 
duty  has  kept  you  at  a  distance  from  the  stations  of  our  mission- 
aries at  Surat,  Calcutta,  Madras,  Bellary,  Vizagapatam,   Travan- 


254  LETTERS    TO    A   YOUNG    FRIEND    IN    INDIA. 

core,  &c.  As  I  know  all  our  friends  at  those  stations,  I  beg  you 
will  give,  to  such  of  them  as  you  may  see,  my  kindest  remem- 
brances. 

"  The  news  of  London  I  need  not  state  to  you.  There  is,  how- 
ever, one  interesting  event  which  will  awaken  your  kind  con- 
cern for  a  friend's  future  success  in  his  important  station.  The 
people  in  Miles's  Lane  have  invited  my  namesake  to  become  their 
minister,  and  the  Synod  has  approved  of  the  choice,  and  ordered 
his  settlement.  The  charge  is  great;  and  the  situation  of  so 
young  a  man,  and  without  experience,  in  London,  is  very  hazard- 
ous. The  only  security  he  can  have,  must  arise  from  the  guar- 
dianship of  Heaven,  and  the  promised  presence  of  the  Son  of 
God.  This,  I  trust,  he  will  ever  and  earnestly  implore,  and  with 
his  supplications  all  who  love  him  will  kindly  and  cordially 
unite. 

"  Now  farewell,  my  dear  William.  The  God  of  your  ex- 
cellent father  and  mother  be  your  God ;  his  everlasting  arms  be 
around  and  underneath  you.  Live  near  to  God  in  your  thoughts, 
your  confidence,  your  desires,  and  your  hopes, — and  you  will  be 
happy.  I  remain,  with  much  unfeigned  affection,  your  faithful 
friend." 

Dr.  Waug'h  had  a  mind  peculiarly  susceptible  of  delight  in 
the  contemplation  of  nature  ;  and  the  survey  of  the  coast  of 
England,  as  it  presented  itself  in  the  bold  grandeur  of  its  pre- 
cipices, or  the  beauty  and  richness  of  its  fields,  and  of  the 
swelling  deep,  as  it  lifted  up  its  waves  around  him,  elevated  his 
mind  in  pious  wonder  :  yet  could  he  forego  the  holy  pleasure 
of  such  prospects  at  the  impulse  of  friendly  solicitude  ;  and  the 
partial  separation  he  now  felt  from  his  family  and  people, 
seems  to  have  rendered  his  sympathy  more  lively  and  tender 
with  those  whose  distance  was  greater,  and  whose  return  was 
less  likely  than  his.  To  the  same  young  man  he  thus 
writes : — 

"  I  was  truly  happy  to  find  your  mind  in  so  suitable  a  frame 
as  that  which  your  kind  letter  to  me  disclosed.  Be  well  assured, 
my  dear  young  friend,  that  just  views  of  the  holiness,  the  wisdom, 
and  the  goodness  of  the  Divine  government,  lie  at  the  foundation 
of  all  solid  happiness.      These  views  are  given  to  us  in  the  vo- 


LETTERS    TO    A    YOUNG    FRIEND    IN    INDIA.  255 

lume  of  Divine  Revelation.  Read  that  inspired  volume,  my 
dear  William, — read  its  inestimable  contents  daily ;  read  them 
with  humility,  and  with  eyes  lifted  to  heaven,  for  the  aid  of 
God's  good  Spirit  to  enable  you  to  understand  their  meaning, 
and  relish  their  worth.  Bring  the  promises  home  to  your  heart, 
for  strength  and  consolation  ;  the  examples,  that  you  may  feel 
their  attractive  and  transforming  influence,  especially  the  per- 
fect example  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  and  the  laws,  for  regulating 
every  movement  of  the  heart,  as  well  as  the  external  deport- 
ment. On  this  foundation  will  you  rear  a  structure  of  rational 
enjoyment  while  your  life  below  remains,  and  of  heavenly  hope 
to  illume  its  latest  and  darkest  hours.  In  your  public  official 
capacity,  you  will  be  a  blessing  to  your  country  and  a  credit  to 
your  name.  The  dying  soldier  will  bless  you  for  your  tender 
concern  for  his  recovery,  and  the  suggestions  you  have  given 
about  the  health  of  his  soul.  You  will  return  home,  I  trust, 
before  your  constitution  bo  much  injured,  and  you  become  un- 
fitted to  enjoy  the  comforts  for  which  you  have  so  long  labored. 
I  anticipate  the  banquet  of  pure  rational  family  delight  on  your 
return,  and  the  prospects  which  will  open  to  the  minds  of  your 
excellent  parents,  in  the  enjoyment  of  your  affectionate  and  du- 
tiful services  for  many,  many  years.  In  their  joy  my  heart  shall 
be  glad. 

"  Are  you  in  a  situation  in  which  you  can  aid  our  missionaries 
at  any  of  their  stations,  or  give  us  any  information  or  counsel 
connected  with  the  sacred  cause  ?  If  so,  I  know  you  will  do  it. 
The  bearer,  the  Rev.  Donald  Mitchell,  goes  out  to  Bombay  as  a 
missionary,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Scottish  Missionary  So- 
ciety. He  was  for  many  years  in  the  army  in  India,  a  lieutenant 
or  captain,  and  came  home  on  the  score  of  his  health,  but  after  a 
divine  change  had  been  produced  on  his  mind.  He  has  been  reg- 
ularly licensed  and  ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of  Nairn,  in  the 
communion  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland.  I  scarcely  know  a  more 
pious  and  tender-hearted  young  man.  He  is  prepared  to  esteem 
and  love  you,  should  Divine  Providence  bring  you  into  contact 
with  each  other.  I  think,  after  you  know  him,  you  will  introduce 
him  yourself  into  the  warmest  nook  of  your  heart,  and  I  know  he 
will  keep  his  quarters. 

"  Now,  my  dear  William,  I  must  for  the  present  say  farewell. 
The  everlasting  arms  be  underneath  and  around  you.  May 
every  purchased  and  promised  blessing  be  in  your  cup !     Write 


25G  LETTERS    TO    A    YOUNG    FRIEND    IN    INDIA. 

me  a  long  letter ;  and  I  will  try  to  be  a  better  correspondent  than 
I  have  been.  Mrs.  W.  and  the  young  folks  unite  in  affectionate 
solicitations  to  be  remembered  with  your  sincere  friend  and  faith- 
ful servant." 

The  reader  will  be  glad  to  be  favored  with  another  letter 
to  the  same  young  man,  on  account  of  its  excellent  counsels, 
and  the  particulars  in  Dr.  Waugh's  situation  to  which  it 
refers. 

"  Salisbury  Place,  Juhj  18,  1825. 

"  My  dear  Doctor, — Many  a  time  have  I  come  up  to  the  study 
to  put  down  a  few  thoughts  for  you,  and,  by  some  intrusion  or 
other,  have  been  prevented.  Whether  I  shall  get  to  the  end  of 
this  sheet,  I  know  not ;  but  I  shall  go  on.  There  is  no  counsel 
I  can  give  you  with  which  your  excellent  and  religions  education 
hath  not  amply  furnished  you.  But  perhaps  the  repetition  of 
things  you  already  well  know,  may  not  be  unacceptable  from  an  old 
man,  who  has  known  and  loved  you  from  your  infancy,  and  who 
has  the  privilege  of  numbering  your  father's  family  among  his 
friends. 

"You  are  in  a  land  of  strangers,  and  exposed  by  your  profes- 
sion to  peculiar  dangers,  both  to  animal  and  spiritual  life.  You 
can  best  judge  of  the  means  of  protection  from  danger  to  the  for- 
mer ;  and  my  reading,  experience,  and  habits  enable  me,  and  my 
heart  strongly  urges  me,  very  affectionately  and  humbly  to  sug- 
gest to  you,  as  I  would  to  my  own  son,  a  few  plain  and  useful, 
because  scriptural,  thoughts  on  the  latter. 

"  The  spiritual  health  of  the  soul  is  closely  connected  with 
the  daily  perusal  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the  conscientious 
observance  of  the  duties  of  the  closet.  The  mind  of  a  good  man, 
thus  engaged ,  rises  into  a  purer  atmosphere  than  that  which  ordi- 
dary  men  breathe :  the  soul  becomes  invigorated,  in  her  confi- 
dence in  the  holiness,  wisdom,  and  goodness  of  the  divine  govern- 
ment ;  in  her  elevated  hopes  of  the  future  grandeur,  sanctity, 
and  blessedness  of  her  redeemed  nature ;  and  in  all  the  kind  af- 
fections which  soften  the  path  of  our  intercourse  with  man, — a 
path  which  our  own  unsuitable  tempers  frequently  make  hard 
and  rough.  Those  hopes  of  the  future  will  give  a  holy  elevation 
to  your  thoughts  and  pursuits,  and  induce  you  to  connect  every 
action  with   its   bearing  on   your  final   destiny,  and   make  your 


LETTERS    TO    A    YOUNG    FRIEND    IN    INDIA.  257 

mind  alive  to  render  all  the  good  in  your  power  to  the  bodies, 
fortune,  character,  and,  above  all,  to  the  souls,  of  those  within 
the  sphere  of  your  influence.  While  you  thus  move  in  the  path 
that  loads  to  honorable  independence,  you  will  be  laying  up  for 
yourself  treasures  of  pleasing  recollections  in  the  evening  of  your 
age, — recollections  which  gold  and  silver  cannot  purchase. 

"  Amid  the  cares  and  bustle  of  a  camp,  and  the  horrors  of  war- 
fare, you  will  be  able,  I  hope,  to  find  time  for  retirement,  for  the 
reading  of  the  blessed  Bible,  and  the  pouring  out  of  your  heart,  and 
all  its  wants,  and  woes,  and  wishes,  into  the  bosom  of  your  Father 
and  your  God.  These  exercises  will  bring  sound  composure  and 
strength  into  the  mind,  and  give  dignity  to  your  deportment,  even 
in  the  ordinary  business  of  your  profession,  to  which  they  will  make 
you  a  credit  and  bright  ornament. 

"  I  shall  only  add,  my  dear  young  friend,  that  when  I  get  near 
the  Throne,  I  will  remember  you — separated  from  your  father's 
house,  and  exposed  to  a  thousand  temptations,  from  whose  malig- 
nant influence  no  harm  but  God's  can  shield  you. 

"  My  own  health  has  suffered  much  fur  these  last  two  years,  in 
consequence  of  an  accident  I  met  with  by  the  giving  way  of  the 
platform  at  the  laying  of  the  foundation-stone  of  the  London  Asy- 
lum. I  am,  however,  gathering  strength,  and  able  to  go  into  the 
pulpit  every  Lord's  day.  But  when  a  man  reaches  seventy-one 
years,  and  after  he  has  spent  more  than  forty-three  of  these  years  in 
London,  recovery  of  lost  strength  is  sad  up-hill  work.  I  bless  God, 
however,  that  I  am  not  entirely  laid  aside,  and  wish  to  close  my  ca- 
reer in  the  service,  however  much  interrupted,  of  my  divine  Lord 
and  Master. 

"When  you  can  spare  half  an  hour,  you  will,  I  trust,  gladden 
my  heart  by  a  few  lines  from  your  own  hand,  telling  me  of  the 
health  of  your  soul, — the  highest  gratification  to  your  affectionate 
friend." 


These  letters  were  beautifully  fitted  to  recall  to  remem- 
brance the  counsels  of  the  pulpit,  and  to  give  to  the  lessons 
of  religion  all  the  interest  which  they  could  derive  from  as- 
sociation with  long-venerated  piety.  Many  of  our  young- 
men  who  go  abroad  are  destined  to  places  where  they  have 
no  opportunity  of  attending  on  gospel  ordinances,  and  where 
serious  impressions  are  in  danger  of  being  effaced  by  the  in- 


258  LETTER    TO    A    FRIEND    EMIGRATING 

fluence  of  worldly  scenes,  from  whose  vanities  no  monitor 
detaches,  and  against  those  temptations  no  holy  guardian 
warns.  The  pious  friends  of  such  youths  should  be  stimu- 
lated by  the  example  of  this  excellent  man,  to  convey  to  them 
the  lessons  of  wisdom  in  love  ;  and  the  bread  thus  cast  on  the 
waters  they  shall  find  after  many  days,  in  seeing  the  salutary 
influence  of  such  pious  counsels,  and  in  experiencing  new  ex- 
citement and  energy  in  the  prospects  they  have  opened,  and 
the  obligations  they  have  described. 

In  further  illustration  of  the  parental  anxiety  with  which 
lie  watched  over  the  spiritual  welfare,  and  encouraged  the 
worthy  aims  of  such  of  his  friends  as  were  called  by  Provi- 
dence to  reside  in  distant  lands,  we  shall  quote  a  passage  or 
two  from  his  letters  to  a  gentleman,  who,  with  a  little  band 
of  his  relatives  and  countrymen,  emigrated,  in  1820,  to  South 
Africa,  in  pursuance  of  the  plan  at  that  time  set  on  foot  by 
government,  to  plant  a  British  population  on  the  eastern 
frontier  of  the  Cape  colony.  This  party  of  emigrants,  being 
not  only  Scotch,  but  chiefly  from  that  part  of  the  country  of 
which  Dr.  Waugh  was  himself  a  native,  and  to  which  he  was 
attached  by  so  many  tender  ties,  it  may  be  conceived  with 
what  affectionate  interest  he  entered  into  their  feelings,  and 
with  what  active  zeal  (although  his  personal  intercourse  with 
most  of  them  was  necessarily  brief  and  hurried)  he  exerted 
himself  to  further  their  views,  by  furnishing  them  with  letters 
of  introduction  to  missionaries  and  other  good  men  at  the 
Cape  ;  and  by  procuring  them,  through  his  influence  with  the 
Bible  and  Tract  Societies,  abundant  supplies  of  the  Scriptures 
and  of  religious  publications,  in  English  and  in  Dutch,  both  for 
their  own  use  and  for  distribution  among  the  uninstructed 
people  around  their  future  residence.  The  individual  intro- 
duced to  the  leader  of  the  party  by  the  following  note,  joined 
them  as  a  settler,  but  subsequently  became  a  missionary,  and 
is  still  in  South  Africa,  zealously  laboring  in  the  great  cause 
which  Dr.  Waugh  had  so  much  at  heart. 

"  Vestry  of  Wells  st.  Chapel,  Feb.  7,  1820. 

"  My  dear  Friend, — The  bearer  (Mr.  Elliott)  comes  recom- 


TO    SOUTH    AFRICA.  259 

mended  to  me  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  a  worthy  dissenting  minis- 
ter, on  whose  testimony  you  may  repose  entire  confidence.  I  en- 
close for  your  perusal  his  letter  to  me  ;  and  beg,  when  you  have 
read  it  over,  that  you  will  put  it  into  the  letter  to  Dr.  Philip.  I  hope 
Mr.  Elliott  will  prove  a  valuable  accession  to  your  society,  and, 
from  his  habits  of  reading  and  religious  character,  will  relieve  the 
ennui  of  a  long  voyage.  He  has  travelled  on  the  continent,  and 
ascended  the  Cheviot  of  Geneva,  and  is  well  acquainted  with  Mont- 
gomery, the  amiable  author  of  '  The  Wanderer  of  Switzerland.' 
Now  you  are  interested  in  him. 

"  Farewell !  I  shall  bear  you  on  my  heart  before  the  throne 
of  Him  who  '  sits  King  upon  the  floods,'  and  is  the  stranger's 
shield.     Love  to  Mrs. ,  to  your  venerable  parent,  &c." 

With  sonic  further  letters  of  introduction  to  friends  at  the 
Cape,  he  again  writes,  on  the  eve  of  their  embarkation  : — 

"  Over  the  ankles  in  business  of  one  kind  and  another,  I  have 
been  able  to  scrawl  only  the  enclosed  notes.  I  greatly  wish  to 
take  you  by  the  hand  before  you  go.  I  shall  be  all  Monday  at  the 
Missionary  Rooms  ;  but  will,  if  it  be  possible,  sec  you  somewhere 
before  you  sail,  if  you  will  only  tell  me  where  we  can  meet.  Ad- 
dress a  line  to  me  at  the  Missionary  Rooms.     My  kindest  regards 

to  Mrs.  ,  and  your  worthy  father's  fireside.     Ever  and  most 

truly  yours." 

Nor  was  his  interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  emigrant  country- 
men of  that  kind  which  evaporates  in  kindly  expressions  or 
ephemeral  feeling.  It  followed  them  with  undecaying  affec- 
tion in  all  the  vicissitudes  of  their  future  fortunes,  until  his 
kind  heart  was  cold  in  the  grave.  Another  brief  specimen  or 
two  will  suffice  to  manifest  the  spirit  and  tenor  of  his  subse- 
quent correspondence  with  the  individual  of  this  party  to  whom 
circumstances  had  more  especially  attached  him. 

"  London,  January  30,  1822 
"  My  dear  Friend, — I  have  to  thank  you  for  both  your  letters 
— especially  for  the  first,  containing  a  sketch  of  your  African 
Teviotdale.  You  can  scarcely  conceive,  poetical  as  your  imagi- 
nation is,  the  delightful  associations  which  your  letter  awakened 
in  my  mind.     I  feel  a  sort  of  sacred  relationship  engendered  be- 


260  LETTER   TO    A    FRIEND    IN    SOUTH    AFRICA. 

tween  your  family  and  my  own,  and  your  own  person  one  of  the 
powerful  cords  that  bind  us  together. 

"  I  wrote  to  you  on  the  24th  of  April  last,  by  a  Mr. ,  a 

young  man  of  color,  and  a  pious  member  of  our  church,  who 
is  gone  out  to  settle  in  the  vicinity  of  Cape  Town.  In  regard  to 
the  provision  of  a  minister,  I  am  satisfied  that  your  venerable 
father  and  yourself  will  suffer  no  suitable  effort  to  remain  un- 
employed to  compass  an  object  so  closely  allied  to  the  best  in- 
terests of  your  own  minds,  and  to  the  peace,  prosperity,  and 
permanent  well-being  of  your  settlement.*  There  are  two  young 
men,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Brownlee  and  Thomson,  who  are  settled, 
with  Mr.  Binnie,  a  catechist,  as  missionaries  in  Cafferland.  I 
myself  assisted  in  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Thomson.  They  are  all 
men  of  great  moral  and  religious  worth  ;  and  if  within  the  range 
of  your  possible  acquaintance,  I  greatly  wish  you  to  form  an  inti- 
macy with  them. 

"  I  have  seen  your  brother  twice,  and  am  just  going  down  to  call 
on  him  this  morning.  I  gave  him  a  token  to  sit  down  at  the  Lord's 
table  with  us  in  the  Rev.  Mr.  Broadfoot's  meeting-house  last  Lord's 
day  week.  He  seems  to  be  an  intelligent,  good  man,  and  I  hope 
will  become  a  blessing  to  your  settlement.  If  I  find  he  tarries  a 
few  days  longer,  I  will  write  again  to  you.  Be  sure  to  write  soon ; 
and  if  you  need  a  further  supply  of  Bibles  or  tracts,  only  let  me 
know,  and  I  will  apply  for  them. 

"  Farewell,  my  dear  friend.  My  hand  shakes  so  much,  that 
my  writing  has  become  scarcely  legible.  Present  my  kindest  re- 
membrances to  your  dear  good  wife,  to  your  worthy  father, 
and  all  under  his  roof-tree ;  and  be  well  assured  of  the  esteem 
and  unceasing  affection  which  I  ever  cherish  for  you  in  my 
bosom." 

To  the  same  correspondent  he  writes,  June  9,  1823  : — 

"  Though  I  am  reduced  almost  to  exhaustion  by  a  severe  in- 
disposition, which  has  confined  me  for  this  month  past,  I  cannot 

suffer  your  friend  Mr.  F to  escape  without  conveying  to  you 

by  him  the  renewed  expression  of  my  affection  and  esteem,  and 
of  my  earnest  prayers  for  success  to  your  honorable  and  bene- 
ficent pursuits.     I  cannot  now  enter  into  particulars ;  but  with 

*  Now  the  parish  of  Glen-Lynden,  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the 
Rev.  John  Pears,  a  minister  of  the  Scottish  Church. 


LETTER   TO    A    FRIEND    ORDAINED    TO    THE    MINISTRY.     2G1 

your  own  prudence  and  zeal,  and  with  the  wise  counsels  of  our 

excellent  and  able  friend ,  I  have  no  doubt  that  you 

will  become  an  honorable  instrument  in  promoting  the  cause  of 
useful  science,  and  the  diffusion  of  the  light  that  came  from 
heaven,  in  the  rising  colony  of  the  Cape.  If  Providence  shall  raise 
me  up  again,  any  influence  I  can  exert  in  furtherance  of  your 
objects,  shall  ever  be  at  your  disposal.  I  was  in  hopes  of  visiting 
the  land  of  our  fathers'  sepulchres — '  the  land  of  the  brave  and 
free' — and  of  feasting  my  eyes  with  a  last  look  of  your  beloved  old 
Cheviot  Hills, — but  this  illness  lias  prevented.  Good  is  the  will 
of  the  Lord !" 

To  a  friend  who  had  been  ordained  to  the  holy  ministry, 
he  addressed  the  letter  which  follows.  It  is  interesting,  as  it 
shows  us  the  model  on  which  he  was  laboring  to  form  his  own 
character  and  ministry.  It  is  delightful  to  mark  how,  amidst 
the  ardor  of  youth,  his  heart  was  alive  to  the  light  and  pa- 
tience of  candor  and  charity.  And  thus  it  was  to  his  last 
hour ;  for  it  was  his  darling  principle  to  hope  the  best  of  oth- 
ers, and  to  seek  the  best  for  himself. 

"  London,  Sept.  25,  1782. 

"  Dear  Sir, — The  hurry  in  which  I  have  been  involved  since 
I  came  to  this  place,  is  now  over,  and  I  sit  down  composedly  and 
with  pleasure  to  inquire  after  your  health,  and  to  express  my  con- 
cern for  your  welfare. 

"  You  have  this  day  been  admitted  to  an  office  to  which  the 
example  of  God's  only  Son  gave  dignity,  and  which  the  sneer  of 
infidelity  can  never  degrade.  Like  Paul,  may  you  obtain  grace 
from  the  Lord  to  be  faithful,  and  may  you  have  in  the  evening 
of  your  life  this  for  your  rejoicing,  that  in  simplicity  and  godly 
sincerity,  and  not  with  fleshly  wisdom,  but  by  the  grace  of  God, 
you  have  had  your  conversation  in  the  world !  By  this  letter  I 
give  you  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  and  the  Christian's  saluta- 
tion. Are  your  preparations  difficult  for  you  ?  The  best  method 
of  preparing  for  the  pulpit  that  I  have  perused,  you  will  find  in 
Burnet's  '  Pastoral  Care,' — a  work  of  great  value  and  importance 
to  every  divine.  I  trust  that  you  will  continue  to  regulate  your 
discourses  by  the  spirit  of  this  truth :  '  The  grace  of  God  teacheth 
us  to  deny  ungodliness   and   worldly  lusts,  and   to  live  soberly, 


262    LETTER    TO  A    FRIEND    ORDAINED    TO    THE    MINISTRY. 

righteously,  and  godly  in  this  present  evil  world.'  And  in  re- 
gard to  the  manner  of  addressing  the  people,  it  were  most  devoutly 
to  be  wished  that  we  could  unite  the  dispassionate  and  sound  rea- 
soning of  the  divines  of  the  Church  of  England  with  the  evangel- 
ical turn  and  warmth  of  the  Methodists :  thereby  we  should  affect 
both  the  head  and  the  heart,  and  at  the  same  time  steer  clear  of 
the  insipid  coldness  of  a  mathematical  demonstration  or  logical 
division,  and  the  froth  of  rant  or  declamation. 

"  I  was  introduced  of  late  to  the  amiable  and  reverend  Mr. 
Erasmus  Middleton,  assistant  to  Mr.  Romaine.  He  is  a  pious 
man,  and  most  ardently  concerned  for  the  spread  of  the  doctrines 
of  grace.  Boston,  Erskine,  and  Hervey,  have  a  chosen  place  in 
his  library. 

"  I  have  nearly  done  with  the  visitation  of  my  people,  and  hope 
in  a  few  weeks  to  partake  of  the  christian  feast  with  them. 

"  When  I  had  written  thus  far.  I  received  your  obliging  letter. 
Think  not  that  my  friendship  cools  when  my  pen  lies  still.  My 
heart  is  too  much  yours  for  distance  or  place  or  new  society  to 
cause  the  pulse  of  its  kindness  to  languish.  Your  inquiries  after 
my  health  are  very  affectionate.  I  sleep  four  nights  in  the  week 
in  the  country,  on  the  Camberwell  Road,  which,  with  the  exercise 
of  riding,  will,  under  the  divine  blessing,  be  the  means  of  preserv- 
ing this  earthly  fabric  in  some  degree  of  vigor. 

"It  has  pained  me  to  learn  the  stories  in  circulation  respecting 

.     It  is  no  honor  to  the  human  heart,  that  weaknesses,  faults, 

and  misfortunes,  should  meet  with  a  more  ready  reception  in  our 
belief,  and  be  propagated  with  more  zeal,  than  any  little  good 
properties  about  us.  Those  who  exult  in  a  neighbor's  wretched- 
ness, should  remember,  that  in  adding  affliction  to  the  afflicted,  they 
are  not  taking  the  likeliest  method  to  raise  our  love  or  to  provide  for 
our  sympathy  towards  themselves. 

"You  are  uneasy  at  the  imprudences  and  teasing  conduct  of 

;  but  try  to  heap  coals  of  fire  on  his  head,  and  to  overcome 

evil  with  good.  Though  you  should  be  unsuccessful,  which  I 
hope  you  will  not,  you  impart  unspeakable  peace  to  your  own  mind. 
Set  Jesus  Christ  before  your  eyes,  and  say  to  yourself,  How  would 
he  have  behaved  in  such  circumstances?  He  who  was  meek  and 
lowly,  and  endured  patiently  the  contradiction  of  sinners,  the  un- 
dermining of  professed  friends,  and  the  treachery  of  him  who  sat 
at  his  table  and  bore  his  commission. 

"  Farewell !      Every  gentle  spirit  be  in  your  attendance  ;  the 


CASES    OF    COUNTRY    MINISTERS.  2G3 

everlasting  arms  of  the  Almighty  be  ever  underneath  you,  and 
the  unerring  eye  of  covenanted  wisdom  be  your  constant  guide  ! 
Let  us  raise  our  disappointed  thoughts  from  this  false  and  rain 
world,  where  experience  laughs  at  the  pictures  of  hope,  and 
place  them  on  the  solid  and  abiding  satisfactions  of  the  life  to 
come." 

He  was  often  requested  to  give  the  charge  at  ordinations  in 
congregations  beyond  the  circle  of  his  religious  connections, 
and  for  such  offices  he  was  eminently  qualified.  His  addresses 
were  so  rich  in  the  wisdom  of  experience,  in  the  unction  of 
piety,  and  in  the  tenderness  of  friendship, — there  was  in  them 
such  life  and  energy,  such  solemnity  and  elevation, — that  the 
chief  Shepherd  was  felt  searching  the  heart  of  the  young  pas- 
tor, and  giving  his  mandate,  "Feed  my  sheep,  and  feed  my 
lambs  ;"  and  the  memory  of  such  a  scene  was  the  impulse  to  a 
whole  life  of  sacred  labor. 

But  his  friendship  showed  itself  in  his  active  exertions  to 
promote  the  interests  of  his  friends  ;  and  if  they  made  known 
to  him  the  case  of  any  one  in  poverty,  he  made  application  on 
their  behalf  to  the  opulent  with  a  delicacy  and  earnestness 
which  generally  succeeded. 

"I  have  often,"  says  a  friend,  " seen  him  much  distressed 
at  the  numerous  applications  made  to  him  by  country  minis- 
ters, on  whom  was  laid  the  ungracious  duty  of  begging  for 
their  congregations.  Some  of  their  cases  did  not  receive  the 
approval  of  his  discriminating  judgment,  and  these  no  solici- 
tations could  tempt  him  to  sign  ;  but  the  greater  part  he 
could  not  but  approve,  and  was  thus  constantly  drawing 
from  the  resources  of  his  beneficent  friends,  lie  used  to  say, 
'The  unostentatious,  inexhaustible  liberality  of  these  good 
men  continually  excites  my  wonder.  I  have  now  known  it 
to  flow  uninterrupted  for  nearly  forty  years.  I  cannot  think 
that  God  will  withdraw  his  blessing  from  this  favored  land 
while  such  a  stream  of  genuine  Christianity  runs  through 
it.'  "  "  A  very  large  proportion  of  every  week,"  says  another 
of  his  friends,  "  was  consumed  in  paying  attention  in  giving 
counsel  and  introductions  to  ministers  of  all  denominations, 


264  CHARITY    OF    BISHOP    BARRINGTON. 

who  came  to  London  to  collect  for  their  congregations.  Not 
only  did  he  attend  to  such  as  applied  to  him,  but  he  literally 
sought  them  out,  and  in  many  instances  was  not  contented 
by  merely  putting  his  name  to  their  cases,  but  whenever  his 
engagements  would  permit,  he  personally  accompanied  them, 
and  often  for  many  a  long  day  has  he  thus  travelled  with 
them  the  streets  of  London." 

On  this  subject,  a  minister  who  is  himself  eminently  dis- 
tinguished for  devotedness  to  the  cause  of  religion,  and  of 
Christian  philanthropy,  has  made  the  following  remark : — 

"  The  readiness  with  which  Dr.  Waugh  lent  his  name  to 
the  cases  of  country  ministers  who  came  up  to  London  to 
beg  for  money  to  assist  in  raising  chapels,  has  been  adduced 
against  him  as  a  proof  of  his  ignorance  of  human  nature.  If 
the  men  recommended  by  him  had  often  turned  out  to  be 
impostors,  there  might  be  some  justice  in  the  charge  ;  but  this 
will  scarcely  be  alleged :  and  if  his  name  was  more  frequently 
employed  than  that  of  others  to  sanction  such  applications, 
the  fact  is  only  an  additional  evidence  of  the  fervency  of  his 
christian  benevolence, — a  fervency  which  was  not  to  be 
quenched  by  the  doubts,  and  discouragements,  and  disappoint- 
ments that  too  frequently  freeze  into  cautious  coldness  the 
kindly  ardor  even  of  good  men,  as  life  advances,  and  experi- 
ence of  human  frailty  and  unworthiness  accumulates." 

Of  the  wealthy  whose  bounty  he  sometimes  solicited  for 
the  poor  or  the  unfortunate,  we  cannot  but  specify  the  late 
Bishop  of  Durham,  whose  vast  income  was  made  the  instru- 
ment of  a  most  liberal  and  judicious  charity,  and  who,  scorn- 
ing the  bigotry  that  would  limit  its  alms  to  the  pale  of  his 
own  church,  sympathized  with  the  hardships  of  his  dissent- 
ing brethren,  and  opened  his  hand  frequently  for  their  relief. 
Were  the  vast  emoluments  of  the  establishment  thus  generally 
occupied,  they  would  be  marked  not  with  envy,  but  with 
admiration.  While  some  of  the  dignitaries  of  that  church 
will  be  celebrated  for  the  depth  and  extent  of  their  learning, 
and  others  for  the  power  of  their  eloquence,  Bishop  Barring- 
ton  will  have  his  memorial  in   the  pious  institutions  which  he 


LETTER    TO    THE    REV.    JOHN    UR0WN.  2G5 

founded  or  patronized,  and  in  the  dwellings  which  his  bounty 
filled  with  comfort  and  with  hope. 

If  the  introduction  of  the  names  or  of  the  works  of  his 
ministerial  friends  to  the  notice  of  the  public  was  likely  to  be 
useful  to  them,  Dr.  Waugh  was  most  ready  to  present  them 
with  all  their  claims  to  respect  and  kindness.  If  by  their 
death,  any  of  their  families  were  left  in  necessitous  circum- 
stances, he  exerted  himself  to  obtain  relief;  and  the  funds  of 
the  "  Evangelical  Magazine,"  as  has  been  already  noticed,  were 
directed  by  him  to  this  object.  If  he  could  assist  his  friends 
in  obtaining  the  countenance  of  people  of  wealth  or  power  to 
any  plan  which  they  were  anxious  to  further,  he  spared  neither 
toil  nor  solicitation  for  the  purpose.  We  give,  as  an  instance 
of  this,  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  John  Brown  of  Whitburn,  a  friend 
very  zealous  in  doing  good ;  and  it  will  show  how  ready  he 
was  to  aid  in  every  pious  effort. 

"  Salisbury  Place,  Feb.  3, 1814. 

';  My  dear  Brother, — After  recovery  from  a  very  severe  cold, 
which  affected  my  lungs,  and  produced  a  very  obstinate  cough,  I 
sit  down  to  form  some  sort  of  answer  to  the  letter  I  have  been 
favored  with  since  you  left  us. 

"  I  begin  with  Leighton's  MSS.  When  I  waited  on  Mr.  Reid, 
in  Pall  Mall,  he  expressed  great  readiness  to  assist  in  the  recovery 
of  them,  if  at  all  possible ;  but  he  declared  that  he  had  no  idea 
whatever  of  their  being  in  his  possession,  nor  could  he  give  me 
any  thread  by  which  to  find  out  the  place  of  their  concealment. 
1  offered  to  pay  any  expense  in  making  the  necessary  search, 
which  he  declined  to  listen  to.  I  assured  him  that  our  object 
was  not  selfish ;  but  that  if  the  valuable  works  of  so  eminent  a 
divine  could  only  be  brought  to  light,  our  object  would  be  com- 
pletely gained.  He  readily  gave  us  credit  for  the  purity  of  our 
motives,  and  assured  me,  that  if  he  should  be  so  fortunate  as  to 
light  on  them,  he  would  most  cheerfully  give  them  to  us  without 
any  consideration  whatever.  Here,  for  the  present,  the  matter 
must  rest. 

"The  next  matter  respects  the  Argyle  Highlanders.  Since 
your  departure  I  have  collected  the  following  sum.-;,  which,  on 
your  application  to  Mr.  Peddie  ho  will  advance  to  you,  aa  I  have 
- 


266  EXECUTION    OF    COMMISSIONS. 

desired  him  to  draw  on  me  for  the  money. — [Here  follow  the 
names  of  several  individuals  from  whom  he  had  collected  sub- 
scriptions.]— Had  you  yourself  found  it  convenient  to  remain 
some  time  longer  with  us,  and  made  the  matter  more  extensively 
known  from  our  pulpit,  a  larger  sum  than  £8  might  easily  have 
been  procured.  May  the  Divine  blessing  accompany  the  mite, 
and  reward  you  and  your  honored  associate  in  your  labor  of 
love! 

"  In  regard,  next,  to  the  publication  of  Mr.  Cud  worth's  MSS. 
I  have  read  all  the  letters  carefully  over,  and  my  opinion  is,  that 
the  form  of  the  publication  might  be,  with  considerable  advan- 
tage, altered  in  the  following  manner : — The  view  cf  appropriating 
faith  given  by  Mr.  Hervey,  should,  in  the  first  place,  be  set  very 
plainly  and  fully  before  the  reader;  then  the  objections  of  Mr. 
Sandiman  to  this  view  of  faith  should  be  fairly,  and  in  all  their 
force,  stated,  together  with  Mr.  Sandiman's  own  notions  of  faith  ; 
then,  thirdly,  the  defence  of  Mr.  Hervey's  view,  by  Mr.  Cudworth, 
should  be  brought  forward,  by  throwing  the  contents  of  the  letters 
and  the  notes  into  the  shape  of  distinct  arguments  in  support 
of  the  Scriptural  idea  of  saving  faith ;  and,  lastly,  my  opinion  is, 
that  the  Rev.  Michael  Gilfillan  and  the  Rev.  John  Brown  have 
ability,  temper,  and  leisure,  altogether  ample  and  sufficient  to  do 
this,  and  that  on  their  shoulders  should  the  burden  be  laid.  There 
is  so  much  confusion  at  present  in  the  letters  and  notes,  and  some 
mixture  of  his  own  spirit  in  Mr.  Sandiman's  answers,  that,  in 
their  present  form,  I  do  not  think  the  end  you  have  in  view  could 
be  gained. 

"  It  is  utterly  impossible  for  me,  in  my  present  hampered  and 
oppressed  condition  for  time  and  labor,  to  prepare  anything  for 
the  '  Seceding  Preacher.'  Mr.  Evans  has  not  said  anything  to 
me  about  your  worthy  father's  addresses.  I  much  approve  of 
your  design.  When  the  next  edition  of  your  Selection  of  Let- 
ters is  in  the  press,  if  my  name  can  be  of  any  use,  you  are  hear- 
tily welcome  to  it.  Mr.  Samuel  Palmer  died  before  I  was  able  to 
attend,  as  I  greatly  wished  to  do,  to  all  the  excellent  things  you 
recommended  to  me.  The  burden  exceeds  my  strength ;  and  the 
expense  of  coach-hire,  which  I  am  unwilling  to  charge,  is  not 
inconsiderable;  but  what  I  can  I  will  cheerfully  do.  I  have 
heard  nothing  of  your  brother,  Mr.  Ebenezer's  design  of  a  Society 
for  Tracts  to  Ministers :  the  proposal  should  be  published  in  the 
Magazine. 


VISITATION    OF    THE    DISTRESSED    AM)    DYING.  2G7 

"The  other  matters  respecting  the  Nonconformist's  Library,  &c. 
I  shall  attend  to;  but,  in  my  opinion,  the  shorter  way  will  he  to 
submit  the  hint  to  all  in  the  Magazine.  Mrs.  W.  joins  in  love  to 
Mrs.  Brown  and  Mr.  Gilfillan,  with,  my  dear  brother,  your  allbction- 
ate  friend." 

Dr.  Waugh  hastened  to  visit  the  distressed  and  the  dying, 
not  only  in  his  own  circle,  but  beyond  it.  Though  frequently 
called  to  public  meetings,  he  never  resisted  an  application  to 
minister  in  the  house  of  mourning;  and  even  amidst  the 
pressure  of  his  own  infirmities,  he  was  eager  to  strengthen  the 
weak  hands,  and  to  comfort  the  feeble-minded.  His  forte  lay 
in  speaking  to  the  heart;  he  delighted  to  contemplate  and  to 
exhibit  religion  in  its  softer  aspects;  and  its  tenderness  was 
felt  more  sweetly  when  it  was  seen  lifting  his  quivering  hand 
in  earnest  entreaty,  and  heard  softening  his  voice  in  mild  ad- 
monition. 

Having  been  called  upon,  during  one  of  the  earlier  years 
of  his  residence  in  London,  to  visit  ministerially  a  gentleman 
of  property,  not  one  of  his  own  congregation, — after  praying 
with  him,  he  was  about  to  take  his  leave,  when  two  guineas 
were  placed  in  his  hand.  He  asked,  "  For  what  is  this,  my 
dear  sir  ?"  "  A  small  acknowledgment  of  your  kind  services," 
was  the  reply.  Mr.  Waugh  immediately  returned  the  money, 
and  said,  with  great  solemnity,  "My  prayers  are  not  to  be 
bought,  sir."  Some  time  after  this,  he  was  again  solicited  to 
call  on  the  same  person,  when,  on  leaving  the  house,  the  ser- 
vant placed  a  sealed  letter  in  his  hand  ;  he  took  it,  the  door 
was  closed,  and,  after  walking  a  few  steps,  he  opened  it,  and 
found  it  contained  a  bank  note  for  five  pounds.  He  hesitated 
— he  felt  that  in  his  circumstances,  with  a  large  and  young 
family,  and  very  limited  means,  this  sum  would  be  of  essential 
use  at  home  ;  but  his  conscience  smote  him — he  returned  to 
the  house,  and  placing  the  money  on  the  table,  beseeched  the 
gentleman  never  again  to  acknowledge  in  such  a  manner 
any  service  which  his  imperfect  attentions  might,  by  the 
blessing  of  God,  be  privileged   to  perform.     It  deserves  to  be 


268       DEATH    OF  A    PERSON    HE  WAS    CALLED    TO    VISIT. 

particularly  noticed,  that  in  after-years,  this  same  gentleman 
proved  to  Dr.  Waugh  a  most  considerate  and  liberal  friend. 

The  following  is  a  letter  written  by  him  to  a  brother  min- 
ister in  Scotland,  relative  to  the  death  of  one  of  his  elders, 
who  had  come  to  London  on  business,  and  been  taken  ill  far 
from  his  relatives  and  his  home. 

"February  10,  1821. 

"My  dear  Friend  and  Brother, — Last  night,  Mr.   R , 

the  intimate  friend  of  your  worthy  elder,  Mr.  H ,  called  on  me 

with  a  request  that  I  would  visit  him  as  soon  as  possible,  in  the 
alarming  state  of  his  illness.  We  set  off  this  morning,  and  have 
just  now  arrived.  But  the  Messenger  of  the  Covenant  was  be- 
forehand with  us,  and,  obedient  to  the  prayer  of  the  Advocate  (John 
xvii.  34),  had,  ahout  four  o'clock  this  morning,  carried  away  the 
immortal  soul  to  the  bosom  of  his  Father  and  his  God.  Every  aid 
that  the  first  medical  skill  could  afford  was  afforded  ;  but  the  Lord 
taketh  away,  and  who  can  hinder  him  ? — who  in  such  a  case  would 
wish  to  hinder  him  ?  The  Lord  here  seems  to  say  to  the  widow 
and  fatherless  children  :  s  Sutler  your  beloved  husband  and  parent 
to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  him  not.' 

"  The  trial  is  overwhelming  to  nature ;  but  it  is  in  such  deso- 
lating strokes  that  the  power  of  God  in  supporting,  and  his  grace 
in  comforting,  his  bereaved  people,  are  gloriously  displayed.  Alas, 
for  the  poor  widow  !  But  you  will  tell  her  that  the  Redeemer 
liveth,  and  that  over  his  love  disease  and  death  have  no  power, 
and  that  in  his  guidance,  in  the  sad  evening  of  life,  when  her  feet 
stumble  on  the  dark  mountains,  she  will  find  more  safety  in  his 
arms,  and  in  his  bosom  more  tender  meltings  of  sympathy,  than  she 
could  have  enjoyed  in  her  beloved  husband  in  the  most  advanced 
state  of  religion  in  his  soul. 

"  The  good  pious  people  in  the  house  inform  us  that,  he  express- 
ed a  deep  concern  about  his  absent  family,  and  hoped  that  they 
would  not  murmur  nor  find  fault  with  the  arrangements  of  Divine 
Providence  in  calling  him  away  when  separated  far  from  his 
beloved  home.  He  died  in  the  Lord.  He  said  that  God  had 
been  a  refuge  in  time  of  trouble,  and  he  trusted  he  would  con- 
tinue to  be  so.  '  It  is  all,'  he  added, '  of  sovereign  mercy.'  He 
anticipated  his  departure,  and  gave  directions  about  his  funeral, 
which  he  desired  might  be  decent,  but   plain  and   simple.     The 


LETTERS    OF    CONSOLATION.  2G9 

disorder  was  inflammation  in  the  bowels,  and  proceeded  rapidly. 
All  things  were  put  up,  and  ready  to  be  carried  to  the  wharf. 
O,  how  true  is  it,  that  there  is  but  a  step  between  us  and  death  ! 
I  feel,  on  this  dark  occasion,  as  walking  among  the  dead.  The 
pious  and  excellent  Dr.  Nicol,  my  worthy  brother  in  Swallow 
Street,  lies  a  corpse  at  this  hour :  he  departed  yesterday  morning 
about  four.  Everything,  for  months,  had  been  in  heaven  but  his 
shattered  frame.  O,  to  be  ready  !  I  trust  you  may  be  able  to 
decipher  this  hurried  scrawl.  My  hand  shakes.  I  need  not  say, 
you  will  hasten  down  to  the  afflicted  widow.  Ever  and  very  affec- 
tionately yours." 

His  letters  to  his  friends  who  had  been  bereft  of  relatives 
hy  death  show  the  tenderness  of  his  sympathy.  It  was,  per- 
haps, as  a  comforter  that  he  was  most  distinguished.  His 
knowledge  of  the  true  sources  of  consolation  was  most  exten- 
sive and  experimental,  and  the  warm  interest  which  he  took 
in  the  house  of  mourning  gave  an  energy  and  a  soothing 
power  to  the  comfort  ho  administered,  for  which  the  sorrow- 
ing heart  often  blessed  him.  His  consolations  were  not  the 
suggestions  of  a  cold  and  stern  philosophy,  which  would  have 
all  governed  by  reason,  and  would  not  leave  for  nature  a  sigh 
to  heave,  nor  a  tear  to  shed  ;  nor  did  he  address  the  mourner 
with  the  cant  of  enthusiasm,  which  represents  the  sacrifice  of 
the  tender  affections  as  the  due  tribute  of  piety  ;  but  it  was 
with  the  consolations  that  flow  from  the  cross  and  throne  of 
our  Lord,  the  promises  of  his  grace,  and  the  hopes  of  his 
mercy.  In  reading  his  letters,  it  was  felt  that  they  came 
from  the  heart  of  sympathy,  nay,  that  the  comforts  they  pre- 
sented were  drops  from  the  Balm  of  Gilead  :  they  were  singu- 
larly suited  to  the  nature  and  severity  of  the  trial.  He  la- 
bored to  evince  that  religion  had  power  to  lift  the  heaviest 
pressure  from  the  heart,  to  brighten  the  gloomiest  prospect 
to  the  eye,  and  to  surround  the  loneliest  couch  with  minister- 
ing spirits  of  mercy. 

He  writes  to  a  friend  who  had  been  bereaved  of  a  number 
of  children,  and  whom  God  had  broken  with  breach  upon 
breach : — 


270  LETTERS    OF    CONSOLATION. 

"  Salisbury  Place,  Feb.  17,  1803. 

"  My  Dear  Madam, — The  God  of  mercy,  whose  bosom  is  the 
dwelling-place  of  pity,  support  your  sinking  spirits  under  the 
pressure  of  this  very  heavy  and  unlooked-for  trial.  Remember, 
my  dear  friend,  that  the  Lord  may  pluck  the  fairest  flower  in 
your  garden  or  mine  without  asking  our  leave.  He  who  grudged 
not  his  only-begotten  Son  at  the  call  of  our  salvation,  is  certainly 
entitled  to  the  humble  and  ready  surrender  of  whatever  we  deem 
precious,  when  His  providence  makes  the  demand.  Could  our 
tenderest  sympathy  effectually  soothe  your  distressed  mind,  your 
mind  should  be  soothed  ere  these  lines  are  put  into  your  hand  ; 
but  our  gracious  Redeemer  hath  assured  you,  that  in  all  the  afflic- 
tions of  his  people  he  himself  is  afflicted;  and  his  sympathies  are 
ever  under  the  regulation  of  infinite  wisdom.  Let  this  minister 
consolation  to  your  broken  spirit.  You  have  an  additional  reason, 
now,  to  long  to  be  in  heaven,  where  you  will  see  your  dear  child, 
possessed  of  angelic  knowledge,  but  still  retaining  the  simplicity 
of  the  child.  Plead  with  God  that  he  may  fill  the  vacuity  in  your 
heart,  not  with  any  other  fleeting  earthly  good,  but  with  himself, 
as  your  all-sufficient  portion,  over  which  disease  and  deatii  have  no 
power. 

"  Your  worthy,  intelligent,  and  kind  husband  will  suggest  other 
and  every  way  suitable  sources  of  abiding  consolation  to  your 
mind.  We  do  not  forget  you  in  our  prayers.  The  broad  hand  of 
the  Almighty  be  spread  over  your  habitation !  I  am,  my  dear 
madam,  most  affectionately  yours." 


The  following  is  the  affecting  statement  of  one  who  had 
felt  the  value  of  his  sympathy  in  the  illness  and  death  of  a 
child.     It  is  communicated  in  a  letter  to  one  of  his  family. 

"  The  last  time  I  saw  your  dear  father  was  on  the  2d  of 
April,  1827.  Affliction  had  entered  our  dwelling;  he  heard 
of  it,  and  came  to  administer  consolation.  Looking  on  my 
dear  dying  babe  for  some  moments  with  much  interest,  he 
said  (for  I  shall  never  forget  the  affecting  scene),  '  'We  will 
approach  the  Throne :'  and,  amongst  many,  many  striking 
thoughts,  in  his  most  impressive  prayer,  the  following  sunk 
deeply  into  a  mother's  heart : — '  Our  Father  and  our  God, 
if  it  be  thy  will,  spare  this  beloved  child,  and  restore  him  to 


VISIT    OF    CONSOLATION.  2*71 

his  now  sorrowing  mother ;  but  if  thou  hast  not  so  willed, 
may  the  unspeakable  happiness  be  hers  of  knowing  and  be- 
lieving that  he  is  removed  from  her  afflicted  bosom  into  the 
sympathizing  bosom  of  his  Father  and  his  God.'  After  con- 
cluding a  prayer  which  might  have  dropped  from  the  lips  of 
him  who  leaned  on  the  bosom  of  Christ,  he  turned  to  me 
with  one  of  those  looks  of  kindness  which,  I  had  almost  said, 
lie  only  could  give,  and  said,  '  Take  comfort,  my  dear  lassie  ; 
for  if  this  dear  boy  be  spared,  I  feel  assured  it  will  be  for  a 
blessing;  and  if  he  be  removed,  yours  will  be  the  unspeak- 
able happiness  of  knowing  that  you  were  honored  to  nurse 
an  heir  of  glory.  Yes,  my  beloved  friend,  he  has  a  father  on 
earth,  and  a  Father  in  heaven  ;  but  you  will  be  his  only  rec- 
ognized mother  in  heaven,  to  all  eternity.'  " 

He  writes  to  another  friend  who  had  lost  his  only  son  in 
India,  in  a  manner  which  shows  how  fully  he  entered  into  all 
the  circumstances  by  which  such  a  trial  was  aggravated. 
Though  the  parents  of  Mr.  II were  denied  the  melan- 
choly consoLation  of  following  their  only  son  to  the  grave,  Dr. 
Waugh  regarded  the  Lord  Jesus  as  present  with  them,  when, 
in  heart  and  in  fancy,  they  visited  that  scene,  as  exercising 
the  feelings  of  condolence,  and  expressing  the  assurance  of 
hope.  lie  thought  with  gratitude  and  awe  of  that  mysteri- 
ous, but,  to  him,  kind  Providence,  which  had  spared  to  him 
all  his  ten  children,  and  had  required  his  friend  to  surrender 
his  only  son  to  death.  It  was  by  this  sympathy  that  he  was 
armed  for  the  stroke  which  soon  after  fell  on  his  son  and  as- 
sociate in  the  Gospel ;  and  for  it  he  was  rewarded  in  the  tears 
which  were  mingled  with  his  as  he  laid  the  head  of  that  ac- 
complished youth  in  the  grave. 

"  My  beloved  and  afflicted  Friend, — At  length  I  have  been 
able  to  sit  down  and  write  to  you;  and  what  shall  I  say  ?  May 
that  God,  who  is  the  Father  of  all  mercies,  and  knows  the  ave- 
nue that  leads  to  divine  consolation,  himself  do  the  work  which 
I  am  utterly  unahle  to  do  !     I  have  carried  you  and  your  dear 

Mrs.  II to  his  throne  of  grace,  in  secret  and  in  the  family, 

and    humbly  hope  that,  through  the    great   and   gracious  Advo- 


272  LETTERS    OF     CONSOLATION. 

cate,  my  unworthy  prayer  will  not  be  despised  nor  rejected. 
There  is  not  a  view  you  can  take  of  the  Divine  character  which 
may  not  be  brought  to  bear  upon  your  hearts  for  consolation 
and  submission.  Our  God  is  sovereign,  and  we  ought  to  shut  our 
mouths,  and,  in  silence,  bow  down  before  him.  He  might  see  the 
storm  of  temptations  arising  in  the  East,  and,  in  fatherly  kindness, 
hide  the  tender  plant  in  the  earth,  to  be  brought  forth  in  the  peace- 
ful morning  of  the  resurrection,  unbroken  and  unblighted  by  the 
tempest.  He  might  see  in  the  hearts  of  his  beloved  parents, 
affections  and  partialities  growing  which  were  encroaching  on  his 
right  to  the  supreme  place  in  the  soul,  and,  to  save  the  parents, 
find  it  necessary  to  take  the  son  to  himself.  He  is  now  making 
trial  whether  you  can  live  on  God  alone,  as  your  all-sufficient 
portion,  and  saying, '  Am  I  not  to  you  in  place  of  ten  sons  ?  Did 
I  freely  give  my  only-begotten  and  best-beloved  Son.  at  the  call  of 
your  necessities,  and  will  you  grudge  your  dear  son,  at  the  call  of 
my  sovereignty  and  wisdom,  and  to  answer  an  important  and 
gracious  purpose  connected  with  your  eternal  welfare,  which  you 
cannot  now  see  ?  Suffer  your  beloved  child  to  come  unto  me,  and 
forbid  him  not.  The  gracious  temper  of  his  renewed  heart  will 
flourish  better  in  the  heavenly  Paradise  than  in  India.  You  have 
now  an  additional  argument  to  set  your  hearts  on  things  above. 
Prepare  to  meet  him,  elevated  to  a  more  stable  throne  than  that 
on  which  the  aged  patriarch  was  called  to  meet  his  darling  son  at 
Memphis.' 

"  Beware,  my  dear  friend,  of  suffering  your  mind  to  succumb, 
and  sink  into  a  state  of  tender  melancholy.  This  will  greatly 
weaken  you  for  bearing  with  becoming  firmness  the  pressure  of 
the  heavy  calamity,  and  prevent  that  usefulness  in  the  church  and 
in  society  for  which  the  frame  of  your  active  mind  happily  qualifies 
yon.  If  you  could  get  a  small  farm  of  j£60  or  £80  a-year,  which 
would  give  employment  to  your  industry,  though  you  did  not 
make  a  shilling  of  profit  by  it,  it  would  gently  agitate,  without 
fatiguing  your  powers,  and  leave  you  leisure  to  do  good,  in  the 
way  of  encouraging  pious  and  humane  institutions,  on  which  I 
well  know  your  heart  to  be  greatly  set.     It  would  give  suitable 

employment  to  Mrs.  H- ,  and  make  the  evening  of  your  united 

lives  tranquil  and  useful. 

"I  need  say  nothing  to  you  of  the  importance  of  reading, 
with  devotion  and  application,  the  blessed  Book  of  God,  or  of 
unceasing  prayer  and  supplication.     Cultivate  religious  intimacy 


LETTERS    OF    CONSOLATION.  2*73 

with  the  good  men  around  you,  Messrs.  Primrose,  Fleming,  Brown, 
and  others.  Send  to  Edinburgh  for  Cecil's  Visit  to  the  House  of 
Mourning,  a  small  tract,  but  of  inestimable  worth. 

"  Now,  my  beloved  friends,  dear  to  me  ever  since  I  knew 
you,  but  now,  in  the  night  of  your  sorrow,  doubly  dear  to  me, 
I  commend  you  to  the  care,  sympathy,  and  succor,  of  the  God 
of  all  comfort, — the  God  (and  he  is  your  own  God)  who  com- 
forteth  them  who  arc  cast  down.  May  the  aid  of  his  good  Spirit 
descend,  as  the  dews  of  the  evening,  on  your  broken  hearts, 
to  refresh,  invigorate,  and  strengthen  them.  Mrs.  Waugh,  my 
son  Alexander,  and  the  girls,  unite  in  tenderest  sympathy  to 
you  both.  I  scarce  know  how  to  cease,  and  must  leave  it  to 
the  good  Spirit  of  God  to  supply,  in  his  all-sufficient  and  ef- 
fectual manner,  my  deficiencies. — Ever  and  most  affectionately 
yours." 

To  a  friend,  from  whom  God  had  taken  the  desire  of  his 
eyes,  he  addresses,  among  others,  the  following  solacing 
counsels  : — 

"  To  say,  my  beloved  friend  and  brother,  that  you  have  the 
sympathy  and  meltings  of  my  heart,  is  to  say  little.  You  have 
a  deep  and  imperishable  interest  in  the  sympathy  of  the  Advo- 
cate before  the  Throne,  whose  bosom  is  the  dwelling-place  of  di- 
vine pity,  and  whose  tender  pleadings  for  his  suffering  people  the 
Father  heareth  always.  Into  his  bosom  you  will  pour  all  your 
wants,  your  woes,  your  wishes  :  to  him  is  intrusted  the  administra- 
tion of  the  concerns  of  all  his  redeemed  people.  He  can  do  noth- 
ing that  is  wrong,  nothing  that  is  unwise,  and  nothing  to  his  own 
which  is  eventually  unkind.  He  may  do  what  he  will  with  his 
own  ;  and  he  hath  called  to  himself  the  wife  of  your  youth  and 
the  guide  of  your  children.  You  can  no  more  clasp  her  to  your 
bosom,  but  you  will  take  to  the  firm  grasp  of  your  sanctified  af- 
fections a  living  Redeemer.  Live  on  your  covenant  God ;  repose 
unshaken  confidence  in  his  sure  and  precious  promises.  Arouse 
your  mind  from  the  tender  and  dangerous  melancholy  into  which 
it  may  probably  settle,  to  holy  activity  in  the  education  of  the 
dear  children  whom  he  has  intrusted  to  you,  and  in  the  vigorous 
discharge  of  the  duties  you  owe  to  the  purchase  of  Christ,  the 
people  of  your  charge.  Court  the  company  of  lively  Christians, 
especially  of  those  who  have  drunk  of  the  same  cup  with  your- 
12* 


274  LETTERS    OF    CONSOLATION. 

self.  Avoid  solitude,  unless  when  you  are  with  God.  There  is  a 
soft  melancholy  in  your  mind  against  which  you  must  pray  and 
struggle.  Arm  yourself  with  the  patience,  the  submission,  the 
fortitude,  and  the  confidence  in  God,  of  the  Captain  of  your  salva- 
tion. Fix  your  eye  on  the  matchless  example  of  religious  ex- 
cellence which  his  unknown  bereavements  brought  into  light. 
Breathe  after  conformity  to  him.  Let  no  present  attainments  satisfy 
you.  Anticipate  the  future  dignity,  holiness,  and  felicity  of  the 
heavenly  state  ;  and  the  restoration  of  the  friendship  and  love, 
and  that  in  every  heightened  form,  which  death  hath  suspended, 
but  can  never  destroy.  Study  to  form  the  hearts  and  hopes  of 
your  dear  children  in  such  a  manner  as  you  conceive  their  be- 
loved mother  would  have  formed  them  ;  let  the  hope  of  her  appro- 
bation strengthen  the  more  sacred  principles  of  paternal  care  and 
solicitude ;  this  will  keep  her  lovely  image  before  your  eyes,  and 
turn  the  remembrance  of  her  virtues  to  a  valuable  account,  and 
will  also  enable  the  dear  children  to  form  a  just  estimate  of  their 
mother's  worth." 

To  Mrs.  Young,  of  Jedburgh,  he  writes,  after  the  death  of 
her  husband — a  man  whose  dispositions  were  singularly  mild 
and  benevolent,  whose  ministrations  were  characterized  by 
affectionate  earnestness  and  simplicity,  whose  unremitted 
exertions  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  his  widely-spread  charge, 
entitled  him  to  the  praise  that  he  was  in  labors  most  abund- 
ant, and  who,  in  the  piety  of  his  heart  and  the  purity  of  his 
character,  approved  himself  to  God  and  man  as  a  minister  of 
Christ,  an  example  to  the  believers,  and  an  ornament  to  the 
gospel. 

"  Salisbury  Place,  Nov.  11,  1824. 
"  My  dear  Friend, — I  hasten  to  convey  to  you  the  deep  and 
the  tender  sympathy  of  my  heart  in  the  overwhelming  bereave- 
ment with  which  it  hath  pleased  your  heavenly  Father  to  visit 
you.  Be  well  assured  of  an  interest  in  my  humble  supplica- 
tions at  the  Throne.  But  what  are  my  supplications  ?  You 
have  an  interest  in  the  pleadings  of  the  Advocate  whom  the  Fa- 
ther heareth  always,  the  power  of  whose  arm  is  strong  as  the 
meltings  of  his  heart  are  tender.  In  the  days  of  his  flesh,  though 
surrounded  by  the  rich  and  the  great,  and  though  suffering  the 


LETTERS    OF    CONSOLATION.  2*75 

pain  of  crucifixion,  he  was  not  ashamed  to  own,  nor  unmindful 
to  provide  for,  his  poor  weeping  mother,  who  stood  near  the 
cross.  He  is  now  in  heaven ;  and  heaven  is  not  the  place  where 
hearts  grow  cold,  or  characters  lose  their  lustre.  Your  Father 
in  heaven  has  clothed  himself  with  a  new  relation  towards  you. 
He  is  the  husband  of  the  widow,  and  her  judge  from  his  holy 
habitation.  Looking  to  him  with  earnestness  of  holy  desire, 
pour  all  your  sorrows  into  his  bosom  ;  lean  upon  his  arm;  make 
him  feel  your  grasp,  that  strength  may  emanate  thence  for  your 
support  and  increase  of  spiritual  vigor.  You  will  need  rich 
supplies  of  Divine  aid ;  for  it  is  no  ordinary  tone  of  devout  and 
moral  deportment  that  the  public  will  expect  (and  they  will 
not  be  disappointed)  from  a  person  who  stands  on  the  high 
ground  which  you  occupy  as  the  widow  of  a  man  of  Mr.  Young's 
exalted  character.  Mrs.  W.  and  all  the  family  unite  in  tender  sym- 
pathy to  you,  with,  my  dear  friend,  your  affectionate  and  faithful 
servant." 

He  addressed  the  following*  letter  to  the  writer  of  this  part 
of  the  memoir  on  the  death  of  his  mother,  who,  while  in  the 
act  of  prayer,  was  struck  with  a  fatal  palsy,  and  thus  closed  a 
life  distinguished  by  uncommon  tenderness  of  piety,  beautifully 
associated  with  the  graces  that  adorn,  and  the  care  that  blesses, 
domestic  life. 

"London,  Jan.  5,  1809. 

"  My  dear  Brother, — In  sorrow  doubly  dear,  could  my  sym- 
pathy, could  my  prayers,  alleviate  the  pressure  on  your  tender  heart, 
soon,  very  soon,  should  the  pressure  be  alleviated.  There  is  a 
glorious  Personage  who  hath  power  with  God,  who  in  all  the  afflic- 
tions of  his  people  is  himself  afflicted.  Let  your  eyes  be  lifted  to 
him,  let  your  tears  fall  at  his  feet,  and  from  his  intercession  expect 
present  support  and  future  relief. 

"  You  have  now  a  favorable  opportunity  of  illustrating  the 
power  of  the  Gospel  you  preach,  to  strengthen  the  mind  in  the 
deepest  distress.  Embrace  and  improve  the  occasion.  The 
Lord,  my  dear  Henry,  is  now  preparing  you  for  the  work  of 
comforting  others  with  the  same  consolations  wherewith  you 
yourself  are  comforted  of  God,  and  fitting  you  for  more  exten- 
sive usefulness  in  the  house  of  mourning.     In  your  gentleness 


2*76  LETTERS    OF    CONSOLATION. 

of  disposition,  and  iti  principles  far  superior  to  constitutional  tem- 
perament, your  dear  sisters  will  feel  ample  relief  under  the  severe 
privation  with  which  the  Lord  hath  visited  them.  You  will  all 
cleave  more  closely  to  each  other,  and  your  tears  will  cement  the 
union  which  this  calamity  in  vulgar  minds  is  frequently  found  to 
weaken.  I  take  them  to  my  arms,  and  I  shall  not  put  my  name  to 
this  scrawl  till  I  have  bowed  my  knees  to  the  God  and  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jegus  Christ,  the  Father  of  mercies,  and  the  God  of  all 
grace,  in  their  behalf.  They  are  the  children  of  many  prayers, 
and  will  have  reason,  with  good  Mr.  Flavel,  to  bless  God  for  an- 
swering a  mothers  prayers,  many  years  after  her  translation  to 
glory.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  last  beat  of  her  devout  heart, 
when  smitten  on  her  knees,  was  an  act  of  fervent  supplication  on 
their  account. 

"  Farewell.  Love  me,  pray  for  me,  write  to  me  ;  and  believe  me 
to  remain,  ever,  ever,  my  dear  Henry,  your  sympathizing  and  affec- 
tionate friend." 

Dr.  "Waugb,  as  has  been  previously  noticed,  cherished,  to 
the  latest  hour  of  his  life,  the  most  affectionate  veneration  for 
the  memory  of  his  own  mother ;  his  heart  was  fully  alive  to 
all  a  mother's  claims  ;  in  the  sorrow  that  wept  at  a  mother's 
grave,  his  sympathy  mingled  in  all  its  strength  ;  and  he  has 
said  with  deep  interest,  that  the  comforts  of  a  mother  are  the 
comforts  which  God  has  selected  as  the  most  appropriate  em- 
blem of  his  own :  "  As  one  whom  his  mother  comforteth,  so 
will  I  comfort  you ;  and  ye  shall  be  comforted." 

Many  other  letters  of  consolation  to  friends  bereft  of  dear 
relatives,  are  preserved,  and  would  be  read  with  interest; 
but  that  this  part  of  the  memoir  may  not  be  too  much  ex- 
tended, we  shall  only  select  from  them  a  few  striking  pas- 
sages. 

"  We  are  now  scattered  and  separated  ;  but  the  apostle 
speaks  of  a  gathering  day,  when  we  shall  meet  with  godly 
friends,  in  the  perfection  of  knowledge,  goodness  and  felicity. 
On  that  day  let  us  fix  our  eye,  and  hold  on  in  those  paths 
which  alone  will  conduct  us  to  heaven.  Let  us  not  be  dis- 
couraged by  the  length  of  the  way,  or  the  roughness  of  the 
road.     Leaning  on  our  divine  Guide  and  Guardian,  we  shall 


LETTERS    OF    CONSOLATION.  2*77 

gather  strength  every  clay  ;  and  let  mo  entreat  your  prayers,  that 
I  may  finish  my  course  with  joy,  and,  through  the  abundant 
mercy  of  God,  be  admitted  to  the  humblest  place  in  his  heavenly 
kingdom." 

"  I  will  not  sleep  till  I  have  carried  the  condition  of  my  friend 
to  the  place  where  mercy  dwells,  and  dwells  in  a  Father's 
bosom." 

"  Our  children  are  more  God's  than  ours.  He  hides  the  ten- 
der plants  in  the  grave,  till  the  storms  of  this  wintry  life  have 
passed  away ;  and,  in  the  morning  of  the  resurrection,  he  will 
lift  them  up,  and  convey  them  to  a  more  genial  soil,  where, 
through  eternity,  they  shall  blossom  and  bear  fruit  to  the  honor 
of  their  Saviour." 

"  God  consults  more  our  future  good,  in  the  visitations  of  his 
afflictive  providence,  than  our  present  feelings,  and  expects  that 
we  believe  his  solemn  assurance,  that  his  ultimate  object  is  our 
profit  in  being  made  partakers  of  his  holiness." 

"  We  must  not  limit  our  ideas  of  the  sympathy  of  the  divine 
Redeemer  to  our  most  exalted  sentiments  of  the  meltings  of  a 
mother's  heart,  were  they  a  thousand  times  more  tender  than, 
in  the  time  of  our  sickness,  or  amid  the  dark  anticipations  of  the 
future,  we  have  found  them  to  be.  Enjoying  a  place  in  that 
heart,  dare  I  for  a  moment  cherish  suspicion  or  jealousy  of  the 
love  which  regulates  every  portion  of  his  administration  'I  Per- 
ish the  thought !" 

"  By  elevating  the  heart  above  earthly  things,  we  may  at- 
tain an  eminence  whence  we  shall,  as  it  were,  look  beyond 
the  veil  of  partition  which  divides  our  friends  in  glory  from 
our  eyes,  and  behold  them  beautified  in  every  feature  and 
their  former  worth  heightened  a  thousand-fold.  There  will 
be  inspiration  in  the  view,  and  the  susceptible  heart  will  fully 
meet  the  hallowed  influence.  This  mental  intercourse  cannot 
fail  mightily  to  aid  the  culture  of  those  moral  habits  and  dispo- 
sitions which  will  fit  us  in  due  time  for  mingling  in  their  society, 
and  for  that  exalted  state  of  being  and  blessedness  to  which  we 
are  called." 

"It  is  not  so  much  the  innate  worth  and  beauty  of  objects 


278  LETTERS    OF    CONSOLATION. 

that  gives  them  influence,  as  the  habit  of  thinking  on  them,  and 
bringing  them  near  to  the  mind.  Now,  this  is  always  in  our 
power.  We  may  walk  with  our  departed  friends,  and  hold  ra- 
tional and  devout  converse  with  their  spirits,  without  the  me- 
dium of  body.  It  is  thus  we  hold  fellowship  with  the  Redeemer 
himself,  whom,  though  now  we  see  him  not,  we  supremely  love, 
and  in  whom  we  fully  confide." 

"  There  is  better  company  for  mourners  than  the  dearest 
earthly  friends.  Let  them  read  the  12th  chapter  of  the  He- 
brews, 2  Corinthians  5th  chapter,  and  the  14th  chapter  of  John's 
Gospel ;  and  suppose  the  apostles  of  Christ  sitting  on  the  chair 
or  couch  which  departed  friends  last  occupied,  and  addressing 
to  you  these  words  in  season  ;  nay,  behold  Jesus  Christ  himself 
standing  by  your  side,  and  saying  to  you,  as  he  did  to  the 
mourners  when  he  was  on  earth,  '  Weep  not.' 

"  Were  our  friends  as  valuable  as  our  fancy  paints  them,  let 
us  bless  God  that  we  had  such  a  treasure  to  surrender ;  and  let 
us  try  to  make  the  surrender  without  the  reluctance  of  excessive 
affection.  It  is  giving  up  a  jewel  which  Christ  claims,  and 
which  he  will  fix  in  his  mediatorial  crown,  to  sparkle,  in  the 
perfection  of  holiness,  to  all  eternity." 

"In  the  removal  of  friends  there  is  an  additional  motive  to 
long  and  prepare  for  heaven ;  and  the  obligation  is  doubled  to 
minister  to  the  welfare  of  those  on  earth,  who  have  not  now 
the  counsels  or  examples  which  they  once  had  to  guide  them 
to  piety." 

"  Happy  is  it  for  us  that  God  is  so  patient  that  he  can  bear 
with  our  inconsistencies,  and  so  gracious  that  he  can  forgive 
them." 

"  Melancholy  will  grow  into  a  disease  unless  we  check  its 
progress.  It  enfeebles  the  mind  to  bear  while  it  adds  to  the 
burden." 

"  Exercise  in  the  open  air ;  cheerful  but  holy  conversation 
with  Christian  friends ;  a  habit  of  dwelling  on  the  luminous 
spots  of  our  life,  by  which  our  gratitude  to  God  is  enlivened, 
and  our  own  joy  augmented ;  intercourse  with  God  in  read- 
ing his  blessed  word,  and  in  the  devotion  of  the  closet — all 


LETTERS    OF    CONSOLATION.  279 

conduce  to  the  support  and  strength  of  the  mind  under  suf- 
fering." 

"  Community  of  trials  unites  human  hearts,  as  fire  unites 
metals." 

"  The  tender  connections  of  life,  when  cemented  by  piety, 
may  by  death  be  suspended,  but  cannot  be  destroyed." 

"  Patient  suffering-  and  holy  counsels  are  the  richest  legacy 
dying  friends  can  leave, — richer  than  a  prince's  treasure." 

"  Let  us  beware  of  gathering  comfort  from  present  frames. 
Lean  on  nothing  within  you,  but  on  the  finished  work  of  Christ 
without  you." 

These  are  a  few  specimens  of  the  admirable  sentiments  by 
which  he  could  console  and  encourage.  Tenderness  is  the  chief 
charm.  We  see  his  heart  in  them,  and  this  is  the  great  secret 
in  all  the  preacher's  duties.  What  comes  from  the  heart  is 
most  likety  to  reach  it.  He  had  a  vivid  fancy,  but  it  did  not 
sparkle  with  a  cold  brilliancy,  like  the  particles  which  glitter 
on  the  snow  when  it  is  shone  on  by  a  winter  sun ;  but,  asso- 
ciated as  it  was  with  a  very  tender  heart,  it  sent  forth  a  radi- 
ance in  which  light  and  heat  were  happily  united. 

Dr.  Waugh  manifested  also  his  friendship  by  the  solicitude 
which  he  showed  to  prepare  his  dying  friends  for  the  solemn 
change  before  them,  and  the  care  with  which  he  labored  to 
lighten  the  anxieties,  and  to  soften  the  pillow,  of  the  dying. 
He  had  nut  that  inconsiderate  softness  which  is  eager  to  hide 
the  real  danger  from  the  dying,  nor  was  his  the  stern  en- 
thusiasm which  treats  with  harshness  the  fears  and  anxieties 
of  nature.  He  wrote  like  one  who  knew  our  frame,  and  who 
could  treat  its  infirmities  with  soothing  indulgence  and  animat- 
ing hope.  We  give  a  specimen  of  this  from  the  following 
letter  to  one  of  his  brethren  in  the  north,  a  pious  and  faithful 
man,  whose  last  days  were  darkened  by  the  anxiety  which  has 
clouded  the  decline  of  many  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  arising 
from  the  consciousness  of  leaving  an  unprovided  family  to 
struggle  with  poverty  and  sorrow,  amidst  the  neglect  or  un- 
kindness  of  a  selfish  world.  After  assuring  him  of  his  kindest 
sympathy,  he  says  : — 


280  LETTERS    OF    CONSOLATION. 

"My  dear  brother,  endeavor  to  live  on  those  precious  truths  and 
promises,  which,  with  so  much  simplicity,  earnestness,  and  love, 
you  have  preached  to  others.  Look  up  to  God  to  enable  you  to 
leave  a  testimony  in  the  consciences  of  all  around  you,  to  the  ex- 
cellence of  the  religion  of  Jesus  in  supporting  the  mind  and  com- 
forting the  heart. 

"  I  heard  an  indistinct  account  of  your  being  threatened  with 
dropsy ;  but  till  I  received  a  letter  from  my  nephew  at  Kinross, 
the  other  day,  I  had  no  conception  of  the  extent  of  the  alarm. 
My  heart  bleeds  for  you,  and  for  your  beloved  wife,  and  the  nu- 
merous young  dears  that  call  you  father,  as  well  as  for  your  con- 
gregation. Beware  of  indulging  in  dark  views  of  Providence,  to 
which,  in  your  present  distress,  you  may  be  tempted.  You  know 
the  character  of  Him  who  hath  said,  '  Who  is  among  you  that 
feareth  the  Lord,  and  obeyeth  the  voice  of  his  servant ;  who 
walketh  in  darkness,  and  hath  no  light  ?  let  him  trust  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord,  and  stay  himself  upon  his  God.'  When  you 
and  I  die,  Providence  will  not  be  buried  in  our  grave.  The  Re- 
deemer liveth.  We  entrust  to  him  our  eternal  life,  and  shall  we 
not  intrust  our  dearest  earthly  relatives  ?  He  will  be  a  husband 
to  my  beloved  wife,  and  a  father  to  my  children,  when  I  can  no 
longer  look  after  them.  His  gracious  presence  will  cheer  them 
in  solitude,  shield  them  in  danger,  guide  their  inexperienced 
minds  in  the  untrodden  paths,  and  in  the  darkest  night ; — will 
wipe  off  the  tear  which  my  hand  cannot  remove,  and  minister 
the  instruction  which  my  lips  can  no  longer  convey  to  them. 
Firmly  believing  these  things,  I  desire  to  surrender  all  that  are 
dear  to  me  to  the  disposal  of  my  Father  in  heaven,  and  wait  pa- 
tiently the  time  of  my  departure.  'I  know  whom  I  have  be- 
lieved ;'  I  know  his  power,  his  grace,  his  faithfulness ;  and  had 
I  a  thousand  souls,  and  every  soul  worth  a  thousand  worlds,  I 
would  intrust  them  all  to  him  ;  and  shall  I  not  much  more  intrust 
the  support,  guidance,  and  temporal  estate  of  my  beloved  family  ? 
These,  I  know,  are  the  thoughts  and  purposes,  my  dear  friend,  in 
which  you  are  resolved  to  live  and  die. 

"  I  have,  for  the  whole  season,  been  more  oppressed  with  va- 
rious duties  than  in  former  years,  and  have  had  very  little  inter- 
course with  the  North.  My  dear  brethren,  I  fancy  each  of  them 
taking  it  for  granted  that  another  writes  to  me,  have  so  far  for- 
gotten the  poor  man  separated  from  his  brethren,  that  I  know 
little  of  what  is  doing  in  your  courts.     I  hope  a  spirit  of  peace 


LETTERS    OF    CONSOLATION.  281 

still  continues  to  pervade  the  body,  and  that  God  is  not  leaving 
himself  without  witness  of  the  power  of  his  grace  and  Spirit  in  our 
church. 

"Now  farewell  for  the  present,  my  beloved  friend,  faithful  and 
ever  kind.  The  everlasting  arms  of  your  covenant  God  and  Father 
be  ever  around  and  underneath  you  !  My  affectionate  regards  to 
your  beloved ,  and  all  the  dear  children  who  have  any  knowl- 
edge of  their  father's  friend.  I  leave  you  in  the  embrace  of  Ever- 
lasting Love,  and  remain  most  truly,  and  tenderly,  and  faithfully 
yours." 

To  another  friend  who  was  dying : — 

"  I  shall  bear  you  on  my  heart  to  the  throne  of  our  heavenly 
Father.  Happy  is  it  for  us  that  we  have  an  Advocate  before  that 
throne  who  well  knows  our  state,  and  who  hath  power  with  God  : 
to  his  hands  let  us  commit  our  feeble  and  imperfect  supplications; 
they  will  not  pass  feeble  and  imperfect  through  his  hands.  You 
and  I  should  remember,  also,  that  he  who  manages  our  health  and 
measures  our  days,  can  do  no  wrong,  and  will  make  every  pang 
of  suffering  terminate  in  tones  of  celestial  delight  and  joy  above. 
Our  Father  is  leading  us  home ;  and  the  more  rough  and  rugged 
the  road  near  its  close,  the  more  we  shall  relish  the  green  sward 
beyond  the  grave.  Could  we  look  upwards  with  a  steadier  and 
more  ardent  eye,  we  should  scarce  feel  the  fluctuations  of  this 
changeable  scene.  When  a  man  feels  dizzy  in  riding  through  a 
torrent  by  looking  down  on  the  stream,  the  best  way  to  restore  his 
head  to  calmness  is  to  fix  his  eye  on  the  stationary  objects  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river. 

"Farewell!  Be  patient,  stablish  your  heart,  for  the  coming  of 
the  Lord  draweth  nigh.  The  last  words  Christ  ever  spake  from 
heaven  in  the  hearing  of  men  upon  earth,  were  these, — '  Surely  I 
come  quickly.'  May  we  answer,  '  Amen ;  even  so,  come,  Lord 
Jesus!'  I  hope  you  have  your  young  friend  near  you  with  the 
Bible  on  lift-  lap.  It  is  the  most  lovely  posture  in  which  she  can 
be  placed.  Apply  the  precious  promises  as  she  recites  them  from 
the  word,  and  may  the  Spirit  of  all  grace  impart  to  your  soul  the 
rich  consolations  they  contain  !" 

He  frequently  delivered  the  funeral  address  at  the  inter- 
ment of  his  friends  and  brethren  in  the  ministry, — a  service 


282  FUNERAL    ADDRESS. 

which  in  hands  such  as  his,  is  admirably  adapted  to  guide  the 
soul  to  wisdom.  By  the  warmth  of  his  heart,  the  solemnity 
of  bis  manner,  his  vivid  impressions  of  eternity,  and  his  power 
of  expression,  he  was  fitted  for  exciting  the  spectators  to  serious 
feeling,  and  for  solacing  mourners  in  the  last  act  of  separation. 
What  is  sometimes  a  cold,  uninteresting  form  of  words,  was 
with  him  a  tribute  of  the  heart,  sanctified  by  devotion,  and 
fitted  for  utility.  It  was  his  object  to  point  the  tearful  eye  to 
Heaven,  to  bring  the  Saviour's  voice  to  the  bleeding  heart, 
and  to  consecrate  to  his  cause  all  the  energies  of  the  living. 
The  reader  will  be  gratified  by  reading  an  address  which  he 
had  prepared  to  deliver  at  the  grave  of  his  friend,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Townsend, — a  man  whom  he  valued  highly  for  his  excel- 
lent sense,  modest  worth,  and  benevolent  activity.  It  is  proper 
to  remark,  that  this  sketch  cannot  be  viewed  as  presenting 
precisely  what  was  said  by  him  on  that  occasion ;  on  many  of 
its  topics  he  greatly  enlarged,  as  he  often  did,  when  his  mind 
was  excited,  in  terms  more  eloquent  and  striking  than  those 
which  he  had  prepared. 

"  The  object  of  this  meeting  is  to  pay  the  last  sad  tribute 
of  respect  to  the  memory  of  a  good  man — a  melancholy  office 
indeed !  The  heart  sinks  at  the  thought  of  what  is  lost  to 
us  in  death.  Silent  is  that  tongue  whose  counsels  were  so 
wise,  and  whose  accents  were  so  soft  and  so  kind.  Those 
hands  shall  no  more  be  lifted  up  in  prayer  to  God,  or  stretched 
out  in  beneficence  to  the  poor.  Cold  is  that  bosom  which 
was  the  dwelling  place  of  sympathy  and  gentleness.  Motion- 
less now  that  heart,  almost  every  pulsation  of  which  was  in 
virtue's  cause.  But  let  us  turn  to  objects  which  will  afford 
relief  to  our  minds.  We  know  that  '  they  who  sleep  in  Jesus 
will  God  bring  with  him.'  We  look  forward  to  that  bright 
morning,  when  God  will  change  our  mortal  bodies ;  we  anti- 
cipate the  future  grandeur  and  dignity  of  our  renewed  na- 
tures— bodies  glorified — souls  ennobled.  The  present  is  but 
the  infancy  of  our  being.  We  spring  from  the  dust,  but  we 
sink  that  we  may  rise  again.  After  a  long  and  moonless 
night,  we  shall  awake  to  enjoy  the  light  of  a  day  that  will 


FUNERAL     ADDRESS.  283 

be  without  a  cloud  and  without  a  close.  The  blessing  we 
anticipate  is  stupendous.  The  eye  hath  seen  nothing  like  it 
in  the  treasures  of  earth,  or  on  the  mountains  of  vision ;  the 
ear  hath  heard  nothing  like  it  from  the  voice  of  history,  or 
the  more  excursive  flights  of  imagination.  The  glory  of  Par- 
adise is  light  inaccessible  to  mortal  eyes;  the  songs  of  the 
blessed  are  sounds  not  audible  to  mortal  ears.  The  inter- 
course of  heaven  is  in  words  which  cannot  be  uttered ;  its 
joys  arc  joys  unspeakable.  Our  friend  has  gone  to  share  in 
them.  They  are  worth  dying  for.  '  It  was  a  good  report,' 
he  can  say,  '  that  I  heard  of  them  in  my  own  country ;  but 
the  half  was  not  told  me  ;  their  blessedness  far  exceeds  their 
fame.' 

"Our  departed  friend  hath  bequeathed  to  the  churches, 
and  especially  to  their  ministers,  a  rich  legacy,  in  a  character 
dignified  by  a  bright  assemblage  of  eminent  spiritual  excel- 
lencies. His  piety,  the  most  eminent  feature  of  his  renewed 
heart,  shone  with  mild  and  modest  lustre,  like  the  star  of  the 
morning,  gentle,  pure,  and  introductory  to  a  celestial  day. 
It  was  scriptural  and  rational.  The  work  of  God's  Spirit 
formed  his  just  views  of  his  Father's  character,  and  of  his 
own  interest  in  that  Father's  love.  It  imparted  a  heavenly 
devotion  to  his  thoughts,  his  words,  and  his  pursuits ;  but  it 
was  not  obtrusive  on  public  observation.  He  was  not  the 
man  who  would  say,  '  Stand  by,  I  am  holier  than  thou.' 
His  modesty  and  mildness  of  temper  secured  an  extensive 
range  of  the  unbought  friendship  of  wise,  deserving,  and  good 
men.  His  religious  worth  was  seen  by  everybody  but  him- 
self. He  loved  retirement,  but  in  solitude  was  not  alone. 
There  was  a  mild  and  a  pure  atmosphere  around  him,  in 
which  envy  could  not  breathe.  Nature  and  grace  seem  to 
have  formed  him  for  the  mild  majesty  of  private  life.  AVhen 
called  to  sustain  the  public  station  of  a  minister  of  God,  he 
seemed  to  suffer  rather  than  to  enjoy  his  elevation.  The 
people  of  his  charge  beheld  him  with  veneration,  and  looked 
up  to  him  as  to  their  father.  They  will  long  and  gratefully 
cherish  the  recollection  of  his  great  suavity  of  manners,  and 


284  FUNERAL    ADDRESS. 

of  the  blessed  effects  of  his  counsels  and  example  on  their  own 
hearts  and  lives.  Their  voluntary  presence  this  day  around  his 
grave,  is  an  honorable  tribute  of  respect  to  their  own  hearts, 
and  to  his  unassuming  worth.  They  will  study,  by  a  life  of 
unfeigned  piety  and  of  pure  morals,  to  meet  the  high  expecta- 
tions which  the  privileges  they  have  enjoyed  entitle  the  public 
to  form  and  cherish. 

"  The  ministers  of  religion  who  knew  our  lamented  brother 
will  listen  to  the  voice  which,  with  ominous  solemnity,  arises 
from  this  open  grave.  It  fills  our  ears,  and,  in  tones  of  au- 
thority not  to  be  resisted,  requires  of  us, — 1st,  To  '  work 
while  it  is  day ;  the  night  cometh,  wherein  no  man  can  work.' 
To  labor,  to  travail  as  in  birth,  till  Christ  be  formed  in  the 
souls  of  men, — till  their  understandings  be  enlightened  with 
the  knowledge  of  him,  their  consciences  possess  the  peace 
which  confidence  in  the  atoning  blood  of  the  Son  of  God 
alone  can  impart,  and  they  be  ennobled  with  the  lively  image 
of  Jesus  Christ,  the  perfection  of  moral  beauty  and  excellence. 
2dly,  It  calls  upon  us  to  watch,  as  we  know  not  the  hour 
when  our  labors  shall  close.  In  the  activity  of  his  life,  when 
his  cultivated  faculties  were  still  vigorous,  and  prospects  of 
usefulness  were  still  opening  before  him,  was  our  beloved 
brother  summoned  to  leave  his  post.  Let  the  young  and 
the  strong  remember,  that  youth  and  vigor  are  no  security  for 
lengthened  life ;  but  the  admonition  falls  with  tenfold  weight 
on  us  who  feel  the  additional  excitement  of  fading  powers 
and  debilitated  constitutions.  3dly,  It  calls  on  us  to  adorn 
our  sacred  profession  with  a  life  formed  on  the  principles 
of  the  gospel,  and  in  illustration  of  its  holy  and  heavenly  ten- 
dency. The  life  of  our  departed  friend  will  mightily  assist 
our  efforts.  Like  a  torch,  it  will  enlighten  and  enkindle. 
Like  him,  let  us  study  the  grace,  the  atonement,  the  advo- 
cacy, and  example  of  Christ,  as  of  God  made  unto  us  sancti- 
fication ;  let  us  implore  of  God  to  enrich  our  minds  with 
large  measures  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  as  the  spirit  of  knowledge, 
of  revelation,  of  sympathy,  of  fidelity,  and  of  increasing  activ- 
ity in   the  "work  of  the  Lord  ; — let  us  press  forward,  leaning 


FUNERAL    ADDRESS.  285 

on  God,  and  put  forth  the  strength  we  have,  accounting  no- 
thing done  while  aught  remains  to  be  done.  When  our  hearts 
grow  cold,  or  our  purposes  vacillate,  let  us  hasten  to  the  cross 
for  warmth  and  stability  of  heart.  O,  there  is  inspiration  on 
Calvary !  The  seraph's  warmth  and  the  martyr's  firmness 
emanate  thence.  4th ly,  Let  us  encourage  ourselves  in  the 
Lord.  The  approbation  of  the  Judge,  '  Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servants,'  how  animating  !  Let  us  oppose  it,  and  that 
happiness  to  which  it  shall  call  us,  to  all  the  temptations  wo 
may  meet  with  from  man's  friendship  or  frown,  from  dimin- 
ished acceptance,  from  the  neglect  or  dereliction  of  those  who 
once  favored  us,  from  the  arduousness  of  duty,  and  from  the 
inadequate  returns  we  may  receive  from  men  for  the  exer- 
tions we  make  for  their  best  interests ; — let  us  anticipate, 
amidst  the  bitterness  of  present  separations,  perpetual  fellow- 
ship with  the  wise  and  the  good  on  high,  who  have  the  know- 
ledge of  angels  with  the  simplicity  of  children,  and  especially 
fellowship  with  the  Son  of  God,  the  story  of  his  love  read 
on  his  own  countenance,  and  heard  from  his  own  lips — with 
redeeming  grace  warming  our  hearts,  the  promises  of  God 
strengthening  our  nerves,  the  approbation  of  our  Judge  anti- 
cipated in  our  ears  ; — let  us  be  strong  in  the  Lord  ;  let  us  quit 
ourselves  like  men ;  let  us  help  every  one  his  neighbor ;  and 
let  every  one  say  to  his  brother,  '  Be  of  good  courage ;'  and 
when  our  warfare  is  accomplished,  may  we  fall  with  our  face 
to  the  foe,  and  be  hailed  as  more  than  conquerors  through 
Him  that  loved  us." 

But  there  were  other  offices  of  friendship  to  which  he  was 
called,  and  which  he  discharged  not  less  admirably.  The 
letter  now  to  be  presented  was  intended  to  counteract  an  im- 
pression which  had  been  made  on  the  mind  of  a  young  brother 
in  the  ministry,  that  Dr.  Waugh  had,  through  the  medium 
of  an  anonymous  letter,  expressed  disapprobation  of  his  con- 
duct, for  preaching  in  places  of  worship  not  in  his  com- 
munion. His  young  friend  was  wrong  in  paying  the  least 
attention   to  an   anonymous   letter;  and    many   a  man  would 


286  LETTER    TO    A    FRIEND 

have  said,  "  If  he  can  listen  to  such  a  communication,  so  oppo- 
site to  my  whole  spirit  and  conduct,  he  is  unworthy  of  any 
explanation :"  but,  with  a  patience  truly  admirable,  and  with 
all  the  dignity  of  honorable  feeling,  he  wrote  to  him ;  and  the 
letter  breathes  the  noblest  spirit  of  integrity,  candor,  and  kind- 
ness. After  stating  the  manner  in  which  the  offence  taken  had 
been  made  known  to  him,  he  says, — 

"  London,  March  11,  1811. 

"  Now,  my  dear  brother,  as  the  simplest  and  shortest  way  of 
removing  the  suspicion,  I  beg  leave,  in  the  most  solemn  manner, 
to  assure  you  that  I  never,  in  the  whole  course  of  my  life,  wrote  an 
anonymous  letter ;  that  I  never  was  concerned  in,  or  privy  to,  the 
writing  of  an  anonymous  letter  to  any  human  being  ;  that  I  was, 
and  am,  an  utter  stranger  to  the  authors  or  contents  of  any  letters 
that  came  by  post,  or  otherwise,  to  you,  through  my  hands,  during 
the  time  you  were  in  London ;  that  your  ministry  or  preaching 
never  was  a  subject  of  conversation,  deliberation,  or  discussion  in 
the  Session  of  Wells  Street.  If  a  word  was  ever  spoken,  it  was 
expressive  of  personal  esteem,  and  of  concern  lest  you  should  hurt 
your  own  health  by  the  frequency  and  fervor  of  your  preaching. 
There  is  not  one  of  my  elders  but  is  as  incapable  of  so  foul  a 
measure  as  myself.  We  may  be  well  assured  that  an  enemy  hath 
done  this.  Perhaps  the  great  enemy  of  souls,  fearing  that  his 
kingdom  might  suffer  by  our  affectionate  union  and  co-operation, 
is  trying  to  create  jealousies  of  each  other,  in  order  to  cool  our 
hearts,  and  weaken  our  hands.  If  so,  it  is  my  firm  purpose,  in  a 
dependence  on  Divine  grace,  to  thwart  his  malignant  aims,  and  to 
cleave  to  you  personally,  to  your  interest,  and  the  success  of  the 
gospel  under  your  ministry,  with  more  ardor  than  ever ;  and  be 
well  assured,  that  it  will  be  my  unceasing  concern  to  evince  the 
sincerity  of  my  heart ;  and  I  will  look  for  a  cordial  return,  and 
assure  myself  of  it,  from  you. 

"  Let  me  just  add,  what  you  know  very  well,  that  I  expressed  to 
you,  in  conversation,  my  conviction,  that  preaching  in  other  chapels 
than  our  own  was  quite  suitable  to  our  ministerial  obligations  to 
preach  the  truth  wherever  Providence  opened  a  door,  especially  in 
London,  where  it  is  never  considered  to  be  a  dereliction  or  abandon- 
ment of  our  peculiar  viewTs  as  to  church  order,  to  preach  in  a 
church  of  a  different  fellowship  from  our  own. 


UNDER    MISCONCEPTIONS    OF    HIS    CONDUCT.  287 

"  Now,  my  brother,  and  my  affectionate  friend,  I  hope  I  have 
effectually  removed  every  unpleasant  feeling  from  your  mind,  and 
trust  we  shall  both  of  us  improve  the  event  for  strengthening  our 
mutual  love,  and  putting  us  on  our  guard  against  everything  that 
would  create  jealousy  or  heart-burning  in  our  bosoms  for  the 
future ;  and  that  should  ever  any  similar  occurrence  take  place, 
we  shall  frankly  and  openly  make  mention  of  it,  that  its  unhappy 
influence  on  our  minds  may  be  immediately  prevented.  Ever  and 
most  affectionately  yours." 

How  many  heart-burnings  would  be  quenched,  how  many 
misunderstandings  removed,  and  how  much,  mischief  prevent- 
ed, by  explanations  thus  prompt  and  friendly  !  Anonymous 
letters  are  often  the  vehicle  employed  by  the  malicious  to 
wound  the  feelings  of  persons  whom  they  envy,  and  to  create 
jealousy  and  alienation  betwixt  those  whose  friendship  they 
regard  with  dislike  The  wise  and  the  good  should  unite 
in  indignant  contempt  of  a  practice  which,  while  it  evinces 
a  malignity  capable  of  any  deed  of  cruelty,  exhibits  it  asso- 
ciated with  a  cowardice  which  can  only  stab  in  the  fancied 
security  of  silence  and  darkness, — a  treachery  which  can  fawn 
and  smile  on  him  whom  it  has  labored  to  wound, — and  a 
hypocrisy  which  can  justify  its  baseness,  when  exposed,  as  a 
zeal  for  God. 

We  shall  now  give  a  specimen  of  the  happy  dexterity  with 
which  Dr.  Waugh  performed  one  of  the  most  delicate  offices 
of  friendship.  The  minister  to  whom  the  letter  that  follows 
is  written,  is  a  man  of  high  talent,  eminent  in  the  fear  of 
God,  and  most  upright,  candid,  and  ingenuous.  However 
liberal  his  views  of  church  fellowship  may  be,  his  good  sense 
would  have  kept  him  from  obtruding  them  at  an  unsuitable 
time.  It  was  to  quiet  the  fears  of  those  who  had  miscon- 
ceived his  intentions,  or  who  did  not  know  the  man,  that  Dr. 
Waugh  sent  him  this  letter,  in  which  good  sense  and  chris- 
tian feeling  are  most  happily  blended  with  kindness  and 
pleasantry. 

"  Salisbury  Place,  Sept.  1,  1820. 
"My  Dear  Sir, — A  worthy  neighbor  of  mine  brought  what 


288  GOOD-HUMORED    LETTER    OF    CAUTION. 

you  will  think  a  strange  report  to  me  the  other  day,  and  he  pre- 
vailed on  me  to  present  this  strange  request  to  you : — You  are  to 
preach  the  Synod  sermon  this  year,  and  your  subject,  he  told 
me,  is  to  be  the  communion  of  saints  in  the  church  below.  An 
opinion,  he  says,  prevails  among  some  of  his  brethren  in  the  west 
of  Scotland,  that  you  are  rather  a  latitudinarian  on  that  point. 
The  good  men  are  afraid,  that  if  you  go  the  full  length  of  your 
tether,  you  will  sweep  into  the  fold  a  mixed  multitude,  like  Jacob's 
flock,  of  ring-streaked,  spotted,  and  speckled,  and  brown, — Inde- 
pendents, abjured  Prelatists,  and  even  black  Papists,  over  and 
above  the  adherents  to  the  corrupt  Kirk  of  Scotland.  This,  they 
fear,  will  create  such  alarm  as  may  greatly  hazard  the  consum- 
mation of  the  good  work  which  lies  so  near  the  heart  of  all  good 
men.  He  told  me,  also,  that  they  wished  me,  in  the  faith  of  my 
powerful  influence  over  you  (a  thing  I  am  by  no  means  disposed 
to  call  in  question),  to  give  you  a  hint,  in  the  words  of  a  greater 
man  than  either  of  us,  '  That  we  who  are  strong  ought  to  bear 
the  infirmities  of  the  weak,  and  not  to  please  ourselves.'  I  told 
him,  very  frankly,  that  I  was  sure  you  would  designedly  say 
nothing  that  could  hurt  the  weakest  mind,  especially  on  an  occa- 
sion when  the  object  is  to  bring  forward  the  level  sides,  and  not  the 
sharp  angles,  of  the  materials  in  this  building  of  mercy,  forbear- 
ance, and  love. 

"  Now  I  have  executed  my  commission ;  and  were  you  not  the 
man  I  know  you  to  be,  I  would  say  a  great  deal  about  the  liberty 
I  take  with  you,  about  my  hope  that  you  will  not  be  offended,  and 
other  froth  of  that  kind.  I  am  very  grave,  however,  when  I  say, 
that  I  assure  myself  you  will  have  better  aid  in  your  public  service 
than  your  note-book.  Every  blessing,  my  dear  good  man,  be  in 
your  cup,  and  in  that  of  your  affectionate  friend  and  faithful 
servant !" 

On  the  occasion  to  which  Dr.  Waugh  has  referred,  this 
excellent  man  delivered  a  most  judicious  and  appropriate 
discourse  on  the  headship  of  Christ  over  his  church, — a  dis- 
course which  gave  universal  satisfaction ;  and  while  he  pre- 
sided in  the  measures  which  were  taken  for  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  union  already  alluded  to,  conducted  himself  with 
dignified  propriety,  and  with  that  affability  and  kindness 
which  showed  how  much  he  delighted  in  that  scene  of  re- 


LETTER    TO    A    LADY.  289 

conciliation  in  which  the  strife  of  seventy  years  was  closed,  and 
an  earnest  was  given  of  the  power  of  charity  going  forth  to 
bear  testimony  to  that  purity  of  doctrine  by  which  the  Seces- 
sion Church  had  been  uniformly  distinguished. 

It  is  proper  that  we  should  give  a  specimen  of  his  ordinary 
correspondence  with  his  friends ;  and  we  select  the  following 
letter  to  a  lady  he  highly  valued  for  her  piety,  kindness,  and 
beneficence : — 

-  Tunbridge  Wells,  Sept.  1,  1826. 

"  My  Dear  Friend, — When  I  left  your  peaceful  happy  home, 
I  expected  in  a  few  days  to  visit  Harrowgate  ;  but  the  sudden 
illness  of  Mrs.  Waugh's  sister,  who  was  to  accompany  us,  obliged 
us  to  defer  our  departure  for  a  little.  After  we  thought  the  way 
was  clear,  a  relapse  made  us  again  call  a  halt.  At  length  we 
resolved  to  abandon  Harrowgate  altogether,  on  account  of  the 
distance  and  the  weakness  of  our  invalids,  and  we  set  off  for  this 
place  a  month  yesterday.  The  chapel  is  to  be  re-opened  on  Sab- 
bath the  17th  instant ;  and  be  assured  that,  as  soon  after  as  possible 
I  shall  throw  myself  on  your  hospitality. 

"  This  is  a  lovely  place ;  and,  through  the  indulgence  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Finlay,  the  resident  minister  of  the  chapel  in  the  Count- 
ess of  Huntingdon's  connection,  I  have  been  allowed  to  recommend 
the  person,  office,  grace,  and  laws  of  our  Divine  Master  from  the 
pulpit  every  Sabbath  evening.  Blessed  are  the  people  that  know 
the  joyful  sound, — the  sound  of  pardon,  liberty,  life,  and  salvation. 
It  is  this  Gospel  that  marks  the  importance  in  which  man  is  held 
in  the  universe ;  for,  as  the  Rector  of  Wellwyn  justly  observes, 
'  if  a  God  dies,  he  dies  not  for  a  worm.'  This  sentiment  we 
admit,  and  are  willing  to  rise  into  the  importance  it  refers  to ", 
but,  alas !  how  little  we  feel  of  the  elevation  of  desire  and 
hope  of  the  future  grandeur,  sanctity,  and  blessedness  of  our 
redeemed  nature  !  Head,  heart,  and  hands,  still  in  the  clay ; 
the  atmosphere  still  cloudy ;  but  I  bless  God,  this  is  not  my 
home.  I  have  seen  the  seventy-third  harvest  cut  down ;  and 
beg  most  sincerely  an  interest  in  your  prayers,  my  excellent 
friend,  that  I  myself  may  come  to  the  barn-yard,  like  a  shock  of 
wheat  fully  ripe,  every  stalk  bowed  down  with  fruitfulness  and 
humility. 

•  We  are  t<>  have  a  spiritual    festival   here  on  Wednesday — the 
13 


290  LETTER    TO    AN    OLD    FRIEND. 

anniversary  of  the  Tunbridge  Wells  Bible  Society  ;  Lord  Barham 
in  the  chair,  and  all  the  living  ministers  of  religion  for  twenty-one 
miles  around  us,  on  the  platform. 

"  Grace  and  peace  be  in  your  cup  I  Ever  and  affectionately 
yours." 

Dr.  Waugh  evinced  his  friendship,  too,  by  opening  his 
heart  to  his  friends  in  the  expression  of  those  recollections 
and  feelings  which  it  loved  to  cherish,  and  which  no  change 
nor  time  could  efface.  What  a  beautiful  specimen  of  this  is 
the  letter  which  follows,  written  by  him  to  the  same  good 
man  whom  we  have  already  seen  him  strengthening  for  his 
last  conflict ! 

"  Croydon,  Surrey,  Oct.  26,  1813. 

"  My  Dear  Brother, — We  are  all  longing  to  hear  from  you. 
I  have  been  out  here  for  two  days,  to  enjoy  a  little  rest  and 
composure,  and  purpose  to  recall  the  joys  of  other  years,  by  con- 
versing a  little  with  you.  The  recollection  of  the  scenes  of  youth 
is,  to  my  mind,  like  the  breath  of  the  morning.  Worn  out  and 
vexed,  I  have  frequently  gone  down  to  the  Green  Park  Lodge  to 
meet  an  old  school-fellow,  a  man  of  heart  and  feeling.  We  go 
back,  at  one  bound  of  the  mind,  five-and-forty  years.  We  re- 
visit the  broom  of  Cowdenknowes,  and  the  braes  of  Carrolside. 
We  climb  Thomas  the  Rhymer's  Tower,  where,  according  to  fiis 
hoary  prediction.  '  the  hare  kittled  on  the  hearth-stane.'  We 
go  over  to  Melrose  Abbey,  and  stand  on  the  marble  under  which 
the  Douglas  lies  who  fell  at  Otterburn ;  and  see  the  spot  where 
St.  Cuthbert  sanctified  the  waters.  We  review  the  scenes  of 
youth,  when  the  heart  was  a  stranger  to  guile,  and  the  robbing 
of  the  laird's  apple-trees  the  only  crime  with  which  the  con- 
science was  burdened.  We  plunge  our  thoughts  so  completely 
in  our  subject,  that  leaving  the  lodge,  I  scarcely  believe  myself 
in  London,  and  feel,  as  you  once  did  at  the  panorama  of  Edinburgh 
near  Leicester  Square,  when  you  proposed  just  to  go  over  to  King- 
horn  that  afternoon,  and  thought  you  would  get  home  in  the  course 
of  the  evening.  The  good  Mr.  Brown  might  call  this  trifling ;  but 
it  is  a  sort  of  playfulness  of  imagination  that  does  the  heart  good  ; 
every  good  affection  is  suckled  by  it,  and  every  unkind  feeling  dies 
at  its  touch. 

"  Poor  Dr.  Robert  Young,  of  London  Wall,  is  no  more.     On 


MISCELLANEOUS    EXTRACTS.  291 

Thursday  week  I  spoke  over  his  grave.  Somehody  will  soon  per- 
forin the  same  sad  office  over  mine.  It  will  gratify  you  to  he 
informed  that  the  Duke  of  Sussex  wrote  a  long,  good,  sympathiz- 
ing, and  consolatory  letter  to  his  alllictcd  widow,  and  requested  as 
many  of  the  officers  of  the  Royal  North  Britons  as  could  make  it 
convenient  to  attend  the  funeral  in  their  uniforms.  They  lined  one 
side  of  the  grave.  Dr.  Nicol  preached  the  funeral  sermon  on  Sab- 
bath  morning,  from  the  death  of  Aaron. 

"  Let  us  keep  up  our  hearts ;  we  shall  get  home  soon.  Ever  and 
affectionately  yours." 

He  delighted  to  notice  to  his  friends  works  of  merit,  and 
to  expatiate  on  the  beauty  of  productions  of  genius.  But 
while  most  eager  to  encourage  early  talent,  lie  was  often 
teased  by  the  applications  made  to  him  for  assistance  by  per- 
sons wishing  to  come  forward  to  the  ministry,  and  for  em- 
ployment in  missionary  labor.  While  the  kindness  of  his 
heart  would  not  permit  him  to  say  aught  that  was  harsh  to 
any  applicant,  it  was  not  of  that  cast  which  would  have  led 
him  to  countenance  either  the  presumptuous  or  the  romantic. 
In  his  answers,  he  labored,  with  gentleness,  yet  with  firmness, 
to  repress  the  tendencies  of  an  unduly  excited  enthusiasm,  and 
to  guide  the  ardent  but  inconsiderate  to  sober  views  of  them- 
selves and  of  Providence,  and  to  a  due  valuation  and  improve- 
ment of  those  means  of  utility  which  were  open  to  them  in  a 
private  sphere.  To  check  the  applicant  who  had  mistaken  the 
impulse  of  enthusiasm  for  a  Divine  call,  and  who  imagined 
that  piety  can  compensate  for  the  want  of  learning  and 
prudence,  is  a  severity  which  is  mercy  to  the  individual,  and 
likewise  to  the  institution  which  would  be  despised  and  in- 
jured by  the  extravagances  of  the  rash,  the  impetuous,  and  the 
unstable. 

He  delighted  to  mention,  in  his  letters  to  his  friends,  such  in- 
cidents, and  to  describe  such  scenes,  as  he  thought  would 
please  them ;  and  this  he  did  with  the  most  delightful  gaiety. 
Thus  he  wrote  to  a  friend  an  account  of  his  going  with  the 
deputation  of  Dissenting  Ministers  with  an  address  to  the  King, 
on  the  peace  of  Amiens  : — 


292  MISCELLANEOUS    EXTRACTS. 

"  In  the  interview  with  the  King,  everything  was  gracious  on 
his  part,  and  I  hope  loyal  and  dutiful  on  ours.  The  sight  of  the 
Duke  of  Portland,  as  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  in 
his  robes,  and  of  about  four  hundred  of  the  leading  men,  heads  of 
houses  in  the  University,  in  their  ancient  dresses,  with  the 
ceremonial  of  their  presentation  to  his  Majesty  on  the  throne, 
within  four  feet  of  which  I  stood ;  and  also  the  sight  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Cambridge,  which  came  next,  was  very  noble.  The 
King  looked  remarkably  well, — more  like  a  heathen  god  than  a 
mortal  man." 


And  in  a  letter  from  Ryegate  : — 

"  At  a  narrow  door  in  the  old  castle  here,  you  enter,  and  go 
down  first  by  a  flight  of  steps,  and  then,  on  the  slanting  ground, 
through  an  avenue  cut  out  of  the  rock  for  the  space  of  fifty-two 
yards,  you  come  to  a  long  room  that  will  hold  above  four  hundred 
people.  In  this  room  met  the  English  barons  in  the  reign  of  King- 
John,  with  their  swords  girt  on  their  thighs,  their  helmets  on  their 
heads,  the  flame  of  liberty  in  their  manly  bosoms,  and  settled  the 
tenor  of  the  Magna  Charta,  which  afterwards  they  forced  their  sul- 
len monarch  to  sign  at  Runnymede,  near  Windsor.  We  saw  the 
seats  on  which,  more  than  six  hundred  years  ago,  they  sat ;  and 
and  as  we  looked  around  the  dark  subterraneous  passage,  slenderly 
lighted  with  three  candles,  we  felt  the  sacred  enthusiasm  of  the  love 
of  liberty  and  of  man  invade  our  breasts,  and  thought  we  heard  the 
bursts  of  their  indignation  sounding  through  the  vault.  So  much 
for  the  sublime  !  The  lowest  part  of  the  excavation  is  twenty  yards 
below  the  surface." 


His  talent  for  describing  natural  scenery  was  of  no  com- 
mon order.  While  he  marked  the  more  obvious  features 
which  attract  the  eye  of  the  ordinary  observer,  he  could  catch 
those  real  touches  of  the  pencil  of  nature  which  no  eye  notes 
but  that  of  taste  and  genius ;  and  he  could  convey  what  he 
felt  in  terms  so  appropriate  and  so  vivid  as  to  excite  the  hap- 
piest impression  of  it  in  the  minds  of  others.  We  see  this 
talent  in  the  following  description  of  scenery  in  Denbigh- 
shire : — 


PAROCHIAL   SCHOOLS.  293 

"I  do  not  think  that  I  ever  had  a  more  delightful  ride  than 
this  morning,  from  six  o'clock  to  eleven,  over  a  part  of  Shrop- 
shire, Flintshire,  and  this  county,  every  yard  of  which  is  highly 
cultivated,  and  of  which  I  do  not  believe  there  is  a  furlong  of 
even  ground.  The  ever-varying  prospect  of  gently  rising  hills 
and  retiring  valleys ;  streams  of  pure  water  from  the  high  Welsh 
mountains ;  fields  of  wheat,  barley,  and  oats,  in  the  most  healthy 
state ;  gentlemen's  seats  bursting  every  minute  on  your  sight 
through  clumps  of  trees ;  little  decent  churches  on  the  neigh- 
boring hills,  with  plantations  of  yew-trees  around  the  habitations 
cf  the  dead  ;  the  roads  singularly  good ;  the  high  mountains  of 
Montgomeryshire  rising  in  the  distance  to  the  clouds,  on  the  left 
hand  ;  the  extensive  valleys  of  Shropshire  spreading  themselves  as 
far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  on  the  right;  the  spires,  of  Chester  on 
the  north-west, — with  the  sun  behind  us,  and,  by  means  of  the 
ever-changing  clouds,  giving  unceasing  variety  to  the  scene  ; — all 
afforded  to  my  mind  the  most  exquisite  pleasure.  How  gracious 
and  how  kind  is  our  God,  who  opens  to  our  minds  so  many  sources 
of  innocent  gratification !" 


In  another  letter  we  see  his  deep  interest  in  the  parochial 
schools  of  his  native  land  : — 

"  I  rejoice  in  the  care  of  the  General  Assembly  about  the  pa- 
rochial schoolmasters,  than  whom,  perhaps,  there  is  not  a  more 
useful  body  of  men  in  the  kingdom.  It  will  be  the  disgrace  of 
the  clergy,  after  the  augmentations  which  have  been  made  to 
their  livings,  to  leave  their  brethren  in  the  vale  of  poverty  behind 
them." 

Dr.  Waugh's  solicitude  for  the  improvement  of  youth  was 
evinced  not  only  by  the  weekly  meetings  which  he  held  with 
them  for  their  benefit,  but  by  the  letters  which  he  wrote  to 
them  when  involved  in  perplexities  where  counsel  was  neces- 
sary, or  when  exposed  to  sufferings  to  which  nothing  but  the 
power  of  Divine  grace  can  reconcile  the  youthful  heart, — so 
apt  to  form  prospects  all  fair  and  flattering,  and  to  put  far 
away  the  dark  and  evil  day.  The  following  letter  was  writ- 
ten by  him   to  a  lovely  young  woman  in   his  congregation, 


294  ADVICE  TO  A  YOUNG  LADY. 

which,  independent  of  its  excellent  advice,  derives  a  melan- 
choly interest  from  the  fact,  that  she  was  the  victim  of  un- 
timely death,  but  a  death  that  was  neither  unprepared  for  nor 
unwelcome : — 

"  July  19,  1826. 

"  My  Dear  Child, — I  have  much  pleasure  in  sending  you  some 
good  counsels,  because  I  well  know  that  you  will  receive  them 
with  kindness,  and  study  to  conform  yourself  to  them. 

"  You  have  enjoyed  many  advantages  under  the  pious  care  of 
your  beloved  parents,  and  you  know  that  all  our  privileges  im- 
ply corresponding  responsibility  on  our  part.  You  have  been 
taught  to  reverence  the  book  of  God,  and  will  peAise  its  contents 
daily  and  with  delight ; — you  will  form  the  opinions  you  cherish 
of  the  rule  of  your  duty  and  the  sources  of  your  happiness  on  the 
views  there  given  of  these  most  important  subjects.  The  Bible 
is  the  inspiration  of  God,  and  demands,  in  the  tone  of  Divine 
authority,  the  unqualified  submission  of  our  understanding  and  our 
will.  Ever  connect  obedience  with  your  highest  honor  and  true 
felicity.  A  religious  character,  formed  on  the  law  of  God  and  the 
life  of  the  Saviour,  constitutes  the  highest  dignity  and  the  loveliest 
ornament  of  our  nature  :  nothing  in  form,  fortune,  or  rank,  can 
supply  its  place. 

"  You  have  been  carefully  taught  also  a  sacred  regard  to  the 
unseen  offices  of  religion,  in  the  closet  and  in  the  workings  of  your 
own  mind  when  alone.  These  exercises  of  devotion  are  absolutely 
necessary  to  maintain  the  vitality  of  religion  in  the  sou],  and  to 
justify  the  profession  we  make  in  public  ;  they  are  springs  also  of 
the  purest  joy  to  a  good  mind,  and  of  solace  amid  the  ills  of  life  ; 
they  open  intercourse  with  Heaven,  which  will  give  elevation  of 
sentiment,  desire,  and  hope,  to  the  young,  which  nothing  else  can 
impart,  and  shed  that  mild  radiance  around  a  character  which  ever 
attends  unaffected  piety :  they  will  make  you  the  ornament  of  your 
family,  as  you  are  its  youngest  hope. 

"  Continue  to  cultivate  the  sympathy  and  unaffected  kindness 
for  which  I  have  ever  loved  you  ;  beware  of  affectation,  as  certain 
deformity  ;  keep  your  native  ease,  and  you  will  ever  delight  the 
discerning  and  the  good. 

"  Above  all,  let  the  fear  of  offending  God  in  the  frame  of  your 
mind  (for  God's  law  takes  cognizance  of  thoughts  and  feelings) 


OLD    JOHN    KER.  295 

as  well  as  in  your  more  open  deportment,  and  a  habitual  concern  to 
please  him,  constitute  the  ruling  principle  in  all  your  sentiments 
and  actions.  This  principle  is  the  only  security  of  respectability 
of  character  and  solid  enjoyment. 

"But  I  must  close  this  scrawl;  and  with  renewed  assurances 
of  esteem  and  love,  I  am,  my  dear  child,  your  sincere  friend." 

It  deserves  to  be  mentioned,  that  while  his  friendship  was 
courted  by  persons  of  high  station  and  influence, — and  while 
men,  whose  eminence  in  rank  and  wealth  is  adorned  by  the 
piety,  humility,  and  charity  of  the  Gospel,  manifested  that  they 
were  gratified  by  his  society,  edified  by  his  wisdom,  and  blessed 
by  his  prayers, — and  evinced  their  regard  by  most  cordially 
aiding  him  in  his  various  measures  of  public  utility  and  private 
beneficence, — he  never  boasted  of  their  countenance,  never 
omitted  the  humblest  service  in  order  to  share  their  hospitality, 
and  never  availed  himself  of  his  influence  with  them  for  any 
selfish  object 

lie  numbered  among  his  friends  persons  in  a  humble  sphere, 
whom  he  valued  for  their  simple  worth  and  fervent  piety, 
and  whom  he  delighted  to  notice  and  to  patronize  in  the  ob- 
scurity in  which  they  moved.  A  remarkable  instance  of  this 
deserves  to  be  mentioned.  Mr.  John  Ker,  who  had  come  as 
a  teacher  to  London,  and  had  been  fixed  by  some  friends 
of  religion  in  a  school  supported  by  subscription,  he  treated 
with  unwearied  kindness  for  a  long  course  of  years,  exerted 
himself  to  procure  subscribers  to  his  school,  frequently  ex- 
amined his  scholars,  and  used  to  speak  with  delight  of  the 
judicious  counsels  and  fatherly  care  of  John  Ker.  The  com- 
piler of  these  pages  saw  him  in  the  chair  at  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  friends  of  that  school,  some  years  after  Mr.  Ker's 
death,  and  well  remembers  the  happy  flow  of  eloquence  and 
feeling  with  which  he  paid  a  tribute  to  the  labors  of  this  man 
as  a  teacher,  and  to  the  simplicity  and  godly  sincerity  of 
his  character.  It  seemed  to  him  like  finding  the  flowering 
heath  of  his  own  land  amidst  the  luxuriance  of  a  richer  soil, 
which  charmed  by  the  recollections  it  excited,  as  well  as  by  its 
simple  beauty.     We  have  heard  him  relate  an  anecdote  of 


296  OLD    JOHN    KER. 

this  venerable  man,  highly  characteristic  of  his  steady  integrity 
of  principle.  Mr.  Ker  had  been  summoned  as  a  witness  at  a 
very  important  trial  in  the  Old  Bailey,  and  being  called  to 
take  the  oath  by  kissing  the  New  Testament,  he  declined  it, 
and  craved  the  indulgence  of  the  court,  saying  that  he  was  a 
Presbyterian,  that  he  had  conscientious  scruples  against  taking 
the  oath  in  that  form,  and  that  he  wished  to  be  sworn  accord- 
ing to  the  mode  used  in  his  own  country.  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Eyre  gave  him  permission ;  and,  holding  up  his  right  hand, 
he  repeated  with  great  solemnity,  the  oath  taken  in  Scottish 
courts  of  justice.  His  venerable  appearance,  his  gravity  of 
manner,  and  his  slow  and  solemn  utterance,  deeply  impressed 
the  whole  court.  This  excellent  man  felt  the  warmest  grati- 
tude to  Dr.  Waugh  for  his  kindness ;  and  a  paragraph  or  two 
from  his  letters  to  him  will  show  how  strongly  it  impressed 
him,  and  what  uncorrupted  sanctity  he  maintained  in  such  a 
scene. 

"  My  dear,  active,  and  steadfast  Friend, — I  do  now  feel  my 
infirmities  increasing  upon  me  ;  and  no  wonder,  after  seventy-six 
years  of  age  and  fifty-six  years  of  school-teaching,  to  say  nothing 
of  several  years  spent  as  a  shepherd-boy  at  a  pound  a-year  wages. 
'  But  why  art  thou  cast  down,  O  my  soul  ?  hope  thou  in  God,  for 
I  shall  yet  praise  him.'  The  bitter  cup  of  my  afiliction  is  sweet- 
ened with  loving-kindness  and  tender-mercies.  Goodness  and 
mercy  hath  followed  poor  unworthy  John  Ker  all  the  days  of  his 
life  ;  and  in  the  Lord's  good  time  I  shall  get  home,  where  there  is 
no  sin,  no  sorrow,  no  tears,  no  separation  from  those  we  love.  I 
have  heard,  with  tears  of  joy,  that  our  friends  on  both  sides  of  the 
Secession  of  Scotland  have  had  several  friendly  meetings,  and  much 
brotherly  kindness.  May  the  good  Lord  continue  and  increase  it 
till  it  arrive  at  perfection  ! 

"  I  can  give  you  a  shower  of  glad  and  grateful  tears  ;  and  I  pray 
that  Jesus,  the  good  Shepherd,  our  highest  Lord,  and  the  best 
Friend,  may  bestow  upon  your  own  soul,  your  family,  and  flock, 
those  showers  of  blessings  which  he  hath  promised.  My  strength 
and  my  eyesight  fail.  May  God  be  the  strength  of  your  heart  and 
your  portion  forever  !     Amen." 

It  ought  to  be  mentioned,  as  a  feature  in  his  character  as 


HIS    CHARACTER    AS    A    FRIEND.  297 

a  friend,  that  he  was  perfectly  free  from  all  jealousy.  Often 
has  the  warmest  friendship  been  converted  into  enmity  by  riv- 
alship  for  popularity ;  and  the  talent  which  was  once  admired, 
and  the  eloquence  which  was  listened  to  with  delight,  have, 
when  they  came  into  competition  with  mean  self-love,  pro- 
duced envying  and  detraction :  but  Dr.  Waugh  was  never 
more  eloquent  than  in  praising  those  whom  he  saw  followed 
by  admiring  crowds,  when  he  felt  there  was  worth  to  be  cel- 
ebrated ;  and  often  has  the  comparison  or  the  surmise  in 
tended  to  depreciate,  been  repressed  by  his  mild  reproof. 
With  those  with  whom  he  was  peculiarly  associated  he  was 
careful  to  avoid  everything  like  interference  or  dictation,  and 
to  give  to  their  exertions  all  the  praise  that  was  their  due. 
To  the  young  ministers  who  went  to  London  to  officiate  for 
a  season,  he  showed  himself  a  father,  was  careful  to  introduce 
them  to  families  in  whose  society  they  would  be  happy,  to 
bring  them  forward  to  services  where  their  talents  might  be 
shown  in  a  way  creditable  to  themselves  and  useful  to  the 
cause  of  religion,  pointed  out  to  them  the  objects  most  worthy 
of  their  attention,  and  in  many  cases,  at  considerable  incon- 
venience to  himself,  accompanied  them  in  excursions  where 
lie  thought  his  presence  would  be  useful.  His  mind  kindled, 
and  its  stores  were  brought  forth  to  gratify  them  ;  and  his 
flights  of  fancy  and  tales  of  other  times  are  still  recollected  as 
adding  a  charm  to  the  loveliest  and  most  splendid  scenes. 
There  was  not  one  of  them  that  left  London  without  the 
liveliest  impression  of  his  kindness,  and  in  his  heart  not  one 
that  deserved  to  be  remembered  was  ever  forgotten.  It  would 
be  indelicate  to  notice  his  friends  who  are  living,  or  to  specify 
the  excellencies  which  his  discriminating  judgment  and  kind 
heart  delighted  to  trace  in  them ;  but  we  may  specify  some 
of  the  departed  on  whose  worth  he  used  to  descant  with  a 
hallowed  fondness.  With  Dr.  Jerracnt,  though  long  in  an 
opposite  party  in  the  Secession,  he  lived  in  cordial  friendship, 
and  greatly  valued  his  judgment,  piety,  and  excellent  taste. 
Of  Dr.  Henry  Hunter  he  spoke  with  enthusiasm  ;  of  his  elo- 
quence in  the  pulpit,  simple  and  yet  most  solemn  and  com- 

13* 


298  HIS    CHARACTER    AS    A    FRIEND. 

manding;  of  his  un rivalled  powers  in  conversation,  and  of  the 
interest  excited  by  his  Sacred  Biography.  He  entertained 
the  highest  respect  for  Mr.  Booth  ;  for  the  unction  of  his  writ- 
ings, the  fervor  of  his  piety,  and  the  modesty  of  his  temper. 
He  was  strongly  attached  to  Dr.  Bogue,  with  whom  he  was 
associated  in  the  formation  and  progress  of  the  Missionary 
Society,  and  who,  in  the  schemes  of  his  mighty  mind  for  the 
advancement  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  found  in  him  a  most 
useful  fellow-worker.  It  is  a  most  interesting  circumstance, 
and  beautifully  illustrates  the  kindness  of  his  heart,  that  while 
he  thought  with  such  veneration  of  his  old  or  departed  friends, 
he  was  alive  to  the  worth  of  the  young,  and  eager  to  form  an 
intimate  acquaintance  with  them ;  and  while  he  spoke  of  the 
talents  of  those  who  were  gone,  it  was  not  in  the  spirit  that 
says,  "  the  former  times  were  better  than  these  ;"  but  to  rouse 
the  young  to  emulation,  and  to  express  his  gratitude  that  the 
mantle  of  ascending  prophets  had  not  fallen  in  vain. 

But,  in  fact,  his  benevolence,  in  the  true  sense  of  the 
term,  was  universal.  There  was  an  habitual  suavity,  and  a 
cordiality  in  his  deportment  to  all,  which  attracted  to  him 
the  warmest  regard  :  wherever  he  went  he  was  welcomed 
with  delight.  This  was  the  case  in  the  various  tours  which 
he  made  in  the  cause  of  missions  and  charity,  and  his  return 
was  fondly  anticipated.  He  expressed  his  kind  wishes  for 
the  welfare  of  those  with  whom  he  was  mingling,  in  a  man- 
ner that  won  their  hearts.  It  is  by  sweetness  and  kindliness 
that  the  young  are  to  be  allured  to  religion,  and  that  the  op- 
position of  the  perverse  is  to  be  overcome.  It  has,  indeed, 
been  supposed  by  some,  that  austerity  is  the  noblest  feature 
of  Piety,  and  that  in  such  an  evil  world  she  should  move 
through  it  in  haste,  and  turn  from  all  its  scenes  of  intercourse 
with  disgust;  and  they  whose  manners  are  courteous  and 
cheerful  are  deemed  too  free  and  too  gay  to  be  religious. 
Such  can  be  the  impression  only  of  au  imbecile  piety,  or  of  a 
malignant  censoriousness.  Religion  is  degraded  when  it  bor- 
rows from  hypocrisy  its  whine,  and  from  malignity  its  scowl. 
It  appears  most  worthy  of  its  Author  when  it  hath  the  sun- 


HIS    CHARACTER    AS    A    FRIEND.  299 

shine  of  cheerfulness  on  its  countenance,  and  the  law  of  kind- 
ness on  its  tongue. 

Dr.  AVaugh  took  great  delight  in  the  society  of  his  friends. 
It  is  said  by  one  who  knew  him  intimately,  that  his  conver- 
sation was  equally  rich  in  point  and  unction,  in  anecdote  and 
apothegm,  lie  had  a  vast  fund  of  anecdote,  which  he  knew 
how  to  introduce  with  the  happiest  effect,  and  a  considerable 
measure  of  pleasantry.  This  was  never  mixed  with  sarcasm, 
but  was  agreeable  to  the  object  of  it  as  well  as  to  those  who 
joined  in  it.  The  Scotch  phrases  which  he  delighted  to  em- 
ploy gave  a  zest  to  it,  and  most  of  his  stories  related  to  the  hab- 
its and  customs  of  his  native  land.  While  he  spoke  English 
well,  it  was  without  that  affectation  which  has  so  often  brought 
ridicule  on  his  countrymen ;  and  to  his  latest  hour  he  employed 
the  Scottish  dialect  in  familiar  conversation,  from  its  association 
with  objects  cherished  in  his  heart,  and  its  peculiar  adaptation 
to  the  feelings  and  scenes  of  home. 

He  had  a  happy  talent  of  interposing  a  jocular  anecdote  to 
terminate  a  debate  that  was  kindling  irritation,  or  to  divert 
into  a  strain  more  agreeable  to  the  company  the  conversation 
that  was  maintained  by  two  disputants,  to  the  disgust  or  an- 
noyance of  others.  Thus,  in  a  party  some  one  was  objecting 
to  church  establishments,  that  there  was  nothing  in  them 
specially  to  attract  those  spiritual  influences  which  were  the  ob- 
jects of  all  christian  institutions.  Dr.  Waugb  was  friendly  to 
establishments  ;  but  not  wishing  to  engage  in  the  controversy, 
in  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was  then  placed,  he  put  an 
end  to  it  by  the  following  jocular  anecdote,  which  set  all  in 
good  humor.  "  Weel,  it  may  be  so,"  he  said.  "  I  remember 
when  I  returned  home  at  the  vacation  of  Earlstoun  school,  I 
frequently  went  out  to  the  muir  to  have  some  talk  with  my 
father's  shepherd,  a  douce,  talkative,  and  wise  man  in  his  way ; 
and  he  told  me,  a  wondering  boy,  a  great  many  things  I  never 
had  read  in  my  school-books.  For  instance,  about  the  Tower 
of  Babel,  that 

1  Seven  mile  sank,  and  seven  mile  fell, 
And  seven  mile  still  stands,  and  evermair  sail.' 


300  HIS    CHARACTER    AS    A    FRIEND. 

And  about  the  craws  (there  were  aye  plenty  of  craws  about 
Gordon  rnuir,  and  I  often  wondered  what  they  got  to  live  on), 
that  they  aye  lay  the  first  stick  of  their  nests  on  Candlemas- 
day  ;  and  that  some  of  them  that  big  their  nests  in  rocks  and 
cliffs  have  siccan  skill  of  the  wind,  that  if  it  is  to  blaw  mainly 
frae  the  east  in  the  following  spring,  they  are  sure  to  build 
their  nests  on  what  will  be  the  bieldy  side  ;  and  mony  a 
ane  that  notices  it  can  tell  frae  that  the  airth  the  wind  will 
blaw.  After  expressing  my  admiring  belief  of  this,  I  thought, 
as  I  had  begun  Latin,  and  was  therefore  a  clever  child,  that  I 
wadna  let  the  herd  run  away  wi'  a'  the  learning.  It  was 
at  the  time  when  the  alteration  of  the  style  had  not  ceased 
to  cause  great  grief  and  displeasure  to  many  of  the  good  old 
people  in  Scotland,  and  I  knew  the  herd  was  a  zealous  oppo- 
nent of  the  change  ;  so  I  slily  asked  him,  '  Do  the  craws  count 
Candlemas  by  the  new  or  the  auld  style?'  He  replied, 
with  great  indignation,  'D'ye  think  the  craws  care  for  your 
acts  of  parliament  ?' " 

He  was  no  talker  on  the  politics  of  the  day,  but  delighted 
to  speak  of  the  progress  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  and  to 
discourse  on  the  characters  of  men  of  worth  of  ancient  days ; 
and  from  his  acquaintance  with  general  history,  especially 
that  of  his  own  country,  he  could  select  whatever  was  adapted 
to  illustrate  and  enforce  his  subject.  It  was  his  delight  to 
introduce  his  friends  to  scenes  interesting  by  their  natural 
beauty,  and  by  the  events  which  had  happened  in  them ; 
and  most  eloquently  did  he  expatiate  on  the  hints  which 
they  suggested.  To  visit  Westminster  Abbey  with  him 
was  one  of  the  highest  treats.  There  was  not  a  monument 
of  note  there  of  which  he  had  not  something  interesting  to 
tell ;  and  while  treading  over  the  ashes  of  the  illustrious 
dead,  and  alive  to  the  emptiness  of  worldly  glory  and  se- 
pulchral pomp,  he  did  justice  to  the  gratitude  which  cele- 
brates the  eloquence  that  had  pleaded,  or  the  valor  that 
had  fought,  for  its  country,  and  to  the  affection  which  wishes 
to  leave,  in  the  house  of  silence,  a  voice  to  commemorate  the 
worth  which  it  cherishes.     For  himself,  he  desired    no  me- 


HIS    CHARACTER    AS    A    FRIEND.  301 

morial  save  in  the  hearts  of  those  that  loved  him  ;  and  on  such 
occasions  has  said,  that  if  he  had  a  wish  for  the  place  of  his 
repose,  it  was  that  it  might  be  by  the  grave  of  his  father  and 
mother,  with  a  heath  bush  at  its  head,  and  a  green  sod  for  its 
covering.  It  was  the  appointment  of  Heaven,  that,  before  he 
died,  a  tie  should  be  formed  betwixt  his  heart  and  the  burial- 
ground  at  Bunhill-fields,  more  tender  than  that  of  venera- 
tion for  all  the  worth  it  covers,  and  that,  like  Jacob,  he  was 
made  to  say,  "  I  shall  go  down  into  the  grave  unto  my  son 
mourning." 

His  conversation  was  so  improving,  and  at  the  same  time 
so  pleasant,  that  instruction  was  always  associated  with  delight. 
lie  gave  the  happiest  illustrations  of  the  incidents  and  figures 
of  Scripture ;  and  pointed  out  features  the  most  apposite  to 
the  topics  of  conversation  in  the  characters  of  the  good  men 
of  old. 

Admonition  fell  from  his  lips,  or  flowed  from  his  pen,  with 
the  utmost  gentleness.  When  any  proved  themselves  unworthy 
of  his  friendship,  he  was  loth  to  believe  aught  that  was  amiss 
of  them,  and  defended  them  as  long  as  he  could ;  and  when 
he  was  compelled  to  give  them  up,  and  was  grievously  repaid 
by  ingratitude  and  abuse  for  his  kindness,  he  never  rendered 
evil  for  evil,  but  rather  avoided  speaking  of  those  of  whom  be 
could  not  speak  to  advantage. 

Scandal  among  the  professors  of  religion  was  what  he  al- 
ways frowned  on.  There  is  too  much  of  this  in  the  circles 
of  the  righteous  over-much ;  for  there  some  exhibit  the  infir- 
mities of  others  as  a  foil  to  their  own  merits,  and  labor  by 
every  idle  surmise  to  depreciate  the  worth  which  they  can- 
not rival.  When  men  of  popularity  have  fallen  into  follies 
which  have  disgraced  them,  the  envy  that  writhed  at  their 
success,  and  the  pharisaic  sanctimony  that  is  clean  in  its  own 
eyes,  judge  without  candor,  and  condemn  without  mercy. 
Dr.  Waugh  had  the  generous  compassion  which  fixes  on  every 
extenuating  circumstance  in  the  condition  of  the  fallen,  and 
which  seeks  to  restore  them  in  the  spirit  of  meekness.  While 
he  was  a  great  enemy  to  evil  speaking,  he  possessed  a  most 


302  HIS    CHARACTER    AS    A    FRIEND. 

happy  mode  of  checking  it.  Being  in  company  with  a  num- 
ber of  ministers,  the  bad  conduct  of  a  brother  in  the  ministry 
became  the  subject  of  conversation,  and  every  gentleman  in 
the  room  joined  warmly  in  condemning  him.  Dr.  Waugh 
sat  for  a  time  silent.  At  last  he  walked  up  to  his  companions, 
and  said,  "  My  dear  friends,  surely  we  are  not  acting  in  accord- 
ance with  our  profession.  The  person  you  speak  of  is  one 
of  ourselves,  and  we  ought  not  to  blow  the  coal.  But  do  you 
know  that  he  is  as  bad  a  man  as  he  is  represented  ?  and  if  he 
is,  will  railing  against  him  do  him  any  good  ?  It  is  cowardly 
to  speak  ill  of  a  man  behind  his  back  ;  and  I  doubt  if  any 
of  us  would  have  sufficient  courage,  if  our  poor  friend  were 
to  appear  among  us,  to  sit  down  and  kindly  tell  him  of  his 
faults.  If  there  be  one  here  who  feels  himself  quite  pure 
and  free  from  error,  let  him  throw  the  first  stone;  but  if  not, 
let  us  be  silent:  and  I  confess  that  I  feel  that  I  must  not  say 
one  word."  He  resumed  his  seat,  and  the  company  looked 
at  each  other,  struck  silent  by  this  rebuke  from  one  so  good 
and  mild. 

"  I  have  enjoyed,"  says  an  excellent  friend,  "  much  intimate 
fellowship  with  him  for  the  last  thirteen  years ;  and  I  never 
heard  him  utter  a  detracting  remark  of  a  single  human  being. 
If  ever  he  exceeded  the  limits  of  tenderness,  it  was  in  checking 
the  slightest  indication  of  evil  speaking.  Of  all  men  and  of  all 
events  he  was  disposed  to  make  the  best." 

"  No  man,"  observes  another,  "  was  more  careful  to  defend 
the  character  of  his  brethren  in  everything  defensible.  On 
one  occasion  a  minister,  then  a  young  man,  having  animad- 
verted, in  a  company  where  Dr.  Waugh  was  present,  on  the 
talents  of  another  minister,  in  a  manner  which  he  thought 
might  leave  an  unfavorable  impression  on  the  minds  of  persons 

present,  he  observed,   "  I  have  known  Mr. many  years, 

and  I  never  knew  him  speak  disrespectfully  of  a  brother  in  my 
life." 

"I  recollect,"  says  another  friend,  "being  once  present  in 
a  company  consisting  of  nearly  forty  gentlemen,  when  the 
following    characteristic    incident    occurred.      On   hearing   a 


HIS    CHARACTER    AS    A    FRIEND.  303 

young  man,  who  was  then  a  student  for  the  ministry,  enter- 
taining those  around  him  with  ungenerous  strictures  upon  a 
popular  preacher  in  the  city,  he  looked  at  him  for  a  time  with 
a  strong  mixture  of  pity  and  grief  in  his  countenance ;  and 
when  he  had  by  his  manner  arrested  the  attention  of  the 
speaker,  lie  mildly  but  pointedly  remarked, — My  friend,  there 
is  a  saying  in  a  good  old  book  which  I  would  recommend  to 
your  reflections  :  '  The  spirit  that  dwelleth  in  us  lusteth  to 
rnvy/" 

He  was  an  exceedingly  modest  man,  and  so  far  from  courting 
applause,  was  ready  to  repress  the  admiration  that  was  ready 
to  offer  it.  In  an  answer  to  an  application  from  one  of  his 
friends  he  says  : — 

"  If  my  health  will  at  all  allow,  I  shall  feel  pleasure  in  at- 
tending the  meeting  of  the  Camberwell  Ladies'  Missionary  So- 
ciety, though  I  do  not  feel  easy  in  being  brought  from  another 
county,  while  your  own  village  abounds  with  talent  and  time. 
You  must  make  some  excuse  to  the  ministers  ;  tell  them  you  and 
I  came  from  ihe  same  calf  ground ;  that  you  were  once  a  member 
of  my  church  ;  that  as  the  shadows  of  the  evening  are  thickening 
over  my  head,  you  want  to  hear  once  more  how  a  man,  that  expects 
soon  to  flit,  will  plead  a  cause  very  popular  in  that  world  where  he 
humbly  hopes  lie  desires  to  go.  All  I  want  is  protection  from 
the  charge  of  forwardness." 

Never  was  there  a  man  more  alive  to  the  merits  of  another, 
or  less  so  to  his  own.  He  disliked  vanity  in  others ;  and, 
much  as  he  delighted  in  saying  kind  things,  he  had  none  to 
lavish  on  the  self-conceited,  but  set  himself  to  check  a  temper 
so  unseemly.  "  In  a  party  where  I  met  with  him  at  dinner," 
says  a  friend,  "  there  was  an  individual  present  somewhat 
given  to  boasting  and  self- adulation.  Dr.  Waugh  heard  him 
for  some  time  with  evident  pain  and  disgust,  and  at  last  broke 
forth  in  the  following  manner : — '  Whisht,  whisht !  my  dear 
lad,  and  learn  to  moderate  your  estimate  of  yourself,  or  else 
you  will  become  a  vain  man, — a  character  who  thinks  every 
man  his  foe  that  will  not  bow  at  his  shrine ;  that  even  the 


304  HIS    CHARACTER    AS    A    FRIEND. 

leaves  shaken  with  the  blast,  or  the  gossamer  that  flits  in  the 
sunbeam,  will  offmd.' " 

When  the  subject  of  literature  was  introduced  into  con- 
versation, he  spoke  of  the  classics,  not  with  the  dogmatism 
of  a  pedant,  but  with  the  taste  and  manner  of  a  polished 
scholar.  He  made  the  most  happy  quotations  from  them, 
and  used  to  remark  how  much  enjoyment  the  study  of  them 
had  yielded  him,  and  to  recommend  them  to  youthful  genius 
as  the  best  models.  Such  works  have  a  power  over  the 
heart  independent  of  their  own  merit,  from  their  association 
with  the  gayest  portion  of  life — the  sunshine  and  melody  of 
its  morning. 

There  was  one  topic  on  which  he  loved  to  expatiate  in  con- 
versation— the  power  of  religion  to  support  the  heart  in  afflic- 
tion and  in  death  ;  and  this  he  did  in  a  manner  so  striking,  and 
with  a  heart  so  full,  that  it  was  impossible  to  listen  to  him 
without  the  wish,  "  Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and 
let  my  last  end  be  like  his  !" 

It  has  been  truly  said,  that  among  different  denominations 
of  Christians  he  was  a  kind  of  holy  link,  uniting  them  to- 
gether, and  compelling  them  to  feel  as  brethren.  Unin- 
fluenced by  name  or  party,  he  cultivated  union  among  all  the 
disciples  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  valued  far  less  the  polity  of 
particular  churches  than  he  did  that  spirit  of  open  generous 
love  which  he  contemplated  as  essential  to  the  true  christian 
character. 

"  His  love  to  all  good  men,"  says  one  of  his  associates  in 
the  missionary  cause,  "was  not  in  word  only,  but  in  deed 
and  in  truth.  With  Dr.  Waugh  it  was  not  an  occasional 
fit  of  attachment,  produced  by  adventitious  circumstances ;  it 
was  the  daily  ornament  of  his  soul,  not  assumed  for  a  Bible 
meeting  or  a  missionary  platform,  but  worn  at  all  times  and 
on  all  occasions.  Dr.  Waugh  was  considered  by  all  Chris- 
tians as  a  sort  of  common  property.  It  is  not  easy  to  con- 
vey to  those  who  have  not  witnessed  them,  an  adequate  idea 
of  some  of  those  social  meetings  at  the  board  of  the  Evangeli- 
cal Magazine,  or  under  the  hospitable  roof  of  Christian  friend- 


HIS    CHARACTER    AS    A    FllIRND.  305 

ship,  where  such  men  as  Fuller,  Ryland,  Bogue,  Eyre,  Ilard- 
castle,  Townsend,  Waugh,  Greatheed,  and  others  yet  living, 
met  together.  It  was  truly  '  the  feast  of  reason,  and  the  How 
of  soul ;'  and  yet  innocent  playfulness  was  not  excluded.  On 
one  occasion,  at  Mr.  Ilardcastle's  (Hatcham  House),  when 
dinner  was  announced,  and  the  guests  were  taking  their  chairs 

(three  of  the  senior  ministers  present  being  Dr.  Bogue,  Mr. 

a  clergyman,  and  Dr.  Waugh),  Mrs.  Ilardcastle  had  invitod 
I  >r.  l>o<me  to  the  chair  on  her  riffbt.  Dr.  Boorue  beino*  en^a^ed 
in  conversation  at  the  other  end  of  the  room,  had  not  heard 
the  first  summons.  Dr.  Waugh  facetiously  observed  to  Dr. 
Bogue,  as  he  passed  to  his  chair,  that  '  Independency  was  go- 
ing to  be  elevated  above  Episcopacy  and  Presbytery.'  '  Re- 
stored, rather,'' said  Dr.  Bogue,  'to  its  primitive  condition  ;  just 
as  it  was  before  the  church  degenerated.'  'Come,  come,  take 
your  chair,'  said  Dr.  Waugh;  'you  were  appointed  to  it 
by  the  highest  civil  authority  in  the  room ;  and,  with  all  your 
Independency,  sir,  you  will  conform  and  accept  the  appoint- 
ment.' " 

With  all  his  charity  he  icas  an  excellent  judge  of  character. 
He  knew  the  iveak  'points  of  an  individual,  but  he  would,  not 
expose  them.  lie  saw  the  excellencies  of  his  friends  in  a  more 
vivid  light  than  others  ;  and  he  had  the  rare  talent  of  drawing 
them  out  in  the  most  creditable  form,  by  turning  the  conversa- 
tion to  topics  on  which  they  uere  best  qualified  to  shine,  or  to 
scenes  in  which  they  appeared  to  the  greatest  advantage. 

**  It  was  impossible,"  says  Dr.  Philip,  "  to  have  been  in 
the  company  of  Dr.  Waugh,  and  not  have  felt  an  irresistible 
and  all-subduing  charm  in  his  conversation,  which  instantly 
attracted  you  to  the  man.  I  never  met  a  man  of  genius  who 
had  been  introduced  to  him,  even  though  he  had  seen  him 
but  once,  who  did  not,  when  his  name  was  mentioned,  recur 
to  the  interview  with  a  glow  of  heartfelt  delight.  An  illustra- 
tion of  this,  furnished  me  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  suggests 

itself  to  my  mind  at  the  moment.     Mr.  F ,  a  gentleman  of 

eminent  talents  and  acquirements,  in  speaking  of  Dr.  Waugh, 
remarked, — '  I   never  saw  that    gentleman   but   once,  and  I 


306  HIS    CHARACTER    AS    A    FRIEND. 

shall  never  lose  the  impression  which  that  interview  made  upon 
my  mind.  On  delivering  an  introductory  letter  to  him,  which 
I  had  received  from  a  mutual  friend,  his  first  question  was, 
'  Where  do  ye  come  frae,  lad  V  I  replied,  like  a  Scotchman, 
in  the  same  interrogative  style,  '  D'ye  ken  Earlstoun  and  Leader 
Water  V  '  Ken  Earlstoun  and  Leader  W^ater  !'  he  exclaimed, 
1  Ken  Earlstoun  and  Leader  Water !  Oh !  my  dear  laddie, 
the  last  time  I  was  in  Scotland,  I  went  alone  to  the  top  of 
Earlstoun  hill,  and  looked  along  the  valley ;  and  there  wasna 
a  bend  o'  the  water,  nor  a  hillock,  nor  a  gray  stane,  nor  a  cot- 
tage, nor  a  farm-onstead  on  Leader  Water,  that  I  didna  ken 
as  weel  as  my  ain  hearth-stane.  And  I  looked  down  the  side 
o'  Earlstoun  hill,  and  I  saw  there  a  bit  greensward  enclosed  wi' 
a  gray  stane  dyke,  and  there  wasna  ane  o'  a'  I  had  ance  ken'd 
o'  the  inhabitants  of  that  valley  that  wasna  lying  cauld  there.' 
While  the  above  may  furnish  a  slight  specimen  of  Dr.  Waugh's 
conversation,  no  one  not  acquainted  with  him  will  be  able  to 
form  an  adequate  idea  of  the  impression  such  an  address  must 
have  made  upon  the  mind  of  a  young  stranger,  when  aided  by 
the  force  of  circumstances,  and  the  eloquence  of  the  speaker's 
eye." 

"In  general  society  he  was  distinguished,"  says  one  who 
knew  him  well,  "  by  an  urbanity  and  kindliness  which  drew 
all  hearts  to  him :  he  was  the  life  of  every  company  into 
which  he  came;  not  by  forgetting  the  decorum  due  to  the 
sacred  office,  but  simply  by  the  christian  amenity  of  his 
manners,  by  his  frank  and  playful  disposition,  and  by  the 
condescending  regard  which  he  paid  to  the  comfort  and. 
wishes,  and  even  supposed  feelings,  of  all  around  him.  His 
nature  and  his  principles  alike  taught  him  to  be  happy,  and 
to  make  happy.  He  had  his  own  personal  trials,  in  addition 
to  many  fluctuations  of  religious  experience;  but  a  serene 
and  cheerful  light  seemed  ever  to  irradiate  that  open  and 
generous  countenance,  which  was  but  a  faint  index  of  a  heart 
which  had  drunk  deeply  into  that  peace  of  God  which  passeth 
all  understanding.  And  how  much  was  there  in  his  society 
to  inform,  to  improve,  und  to   leave   an  impression  of  the 


KINDNESS    TO    WIDOW    OF    REV.    A.    HALL.  307 

happiest  order !  His  wit,  his  genius,  his  nationality,  his  gen- 
eral knowledge  of  men  and  things,  were  all  consecrated  to  the 
good  of  those  with  whom  he  associated.  There  was  a  port 
and  bearing  about  his  mind  which  constituted  him  a  master- 
spirit wherever  he  went;  and  yet  alibis  intellectual  qualities 
were  so  blended  with  tbe  exercise  of  the  heart,  and  with  the 
lovely  graces  of  Christianity,  that  every  one  who  knew  him  was 
ready  to  claim  him  as  a  father  and  a  friend." 

We  shall  close  this  account  of  his  friendships  by  stating  the 
interest  he  took  in  tbe  widow  of  his  predecessor.  Some  minis- 
ters arc  jealous  of  tbe  fame  of  those  who  went  before  them,  and 
regard  every  eulogy  of  their  talents  and  exertions  as  a  dispar- 
agement of  their  own,  and  everything  done  for  the  comfort 
of  their  families,  as  an  invasion  of  the  funds  which  should  be 
appropriated  entirely  to  their  own  support:  but  so  different 
was  the  conduct  of  Dr.  Waugh,  that  he  delighted  to  allude  to 
the  excellencies  of  the  Rev.  Archibald  Hall,  led  his  congrega- 
tion to  the  comfortable  support  of  his  widow,  during  the  many 
years  that  she  survived  him,  and  paid  her  every  personal  atten- 
tion of  respect  and  kindness.  It  was  judged  fit  that  there 
should  be  an  annual  collection  for  her  benefit ;  and  on  these 
occasions  he  exhibited  her  claims  to  their  kindness  with  much 
delicacy  and  tenderness.  We  are  happy  to  lay  before  the 
reader  an  intimation  which  he  wrote  out  for  this  collection,  that 
it  might  be  read  by  the  minister  who  was  to  officiate  for  him 
during  his  illness.  It  is  a  well-merited  tribute  to  the  character 
of  Mr.  Hall,  and  a  most  touching  statement  of  the  claims  of  his 
widow. 

"  Intimation  has  been  already  made  that  on  this  day  the 
annual  contribution  will  be  made  for  the  support  of  the  aged 
widow  of  the  former  pastor  of  this  church.  Her  husband's 
character  as  a  faithful  pastor  and  an  able  author  is  well 
known,  and  hath  been  long  duly  appreciated  in  the  churches 
of  the  saints.  He  industriously  employed  the  vigor  of  his 
faculties  and  the  prime  of  his  days  in  forming  and  organizing 
this  congregation,  which  he  cherished  with  a  father's  tender- 
ness, and  strengthened  by  an  exemplary  life  and  a  triumphant 


308  WIDOW    OF    REV.    A.    HALL. 

death.  His  official  situation  put  it  out  of  his  power  to  make 
any  provision  for  the  support  of  his  widow.  He  left  her  be- 
hind him  in  the  exercise  of  firm  faith  in  the  care  of  Providence, 
the  love  of  relations,  and  the  fostering  liberality  of  the  church. 
His  confidence  was  not  misplaced,  since,  during  the  long  space 
of  two-and-thirty-years  (during  which  period  she  has  under- 
gone the  sad  privations  of  a  husband's  care,  tenderness,  and 
sympathy),  her  trials  have  been  alleviated  by  the  kind  counsels, 
and  her  wants  supplied  by  the  unwearied  beneficence,  of  his 
beloved  people. 

"The  pressure  of  the  times,  with  the  growing  wants  and 
infirmities  of  age,  approaching  to  fourscore,  will  be  felt  by  good 
men,  and  by  the  considerate  and  humane  of  her  own  sex,  as 
powerful  inducements  to  swell  the  stream  of  their  liberality, 
which  may  be  never  required  again  to  nourish  her  withered 
vineyard.  It  is  a  work  of  goodness,  your  minister  firmly  be- 
lieves, most  acceptable  to  God,  closely  connected  with  your 
own  individual  felicity  and  fair  character.  The  recollection 
will  be  pleasing  on  the  bed  of  death ;  and  the  kindness  shown 
to  a  disciple  in  her  peculiar  circumstances  will  be  admitted  in 
evidence  of  your  faith  in  the  divine  Redeemer  by  himself  on 
his  tribunal,  in  the  face  of  the  assembled  world. 

"  These  thoughts  your  minister  affectionately  submits  to  your 
consideration,  more  from  a  sense  of  the  duty  incumbent  on 
himself,  than  from  any  fear  of  their  being  necessary  on  your 
part.  Minds  taught  of  God  to  love  one  another,  need  only, 
as  the  apostle  expresses  it,  to  be  gently  '  stirred  up  by  way  of 
remembrance.'  There  is  an  energy  in  the  principles  of  Chris- 
tianity, especially  in  redeeming  love,  which  will  soften  every 
bosom  into  sympathy,  and  make  the  sympathizing  bosom  ready 
for  every  good  work." 


CHAPTER   V. 


HIS    DOMESTIC    CHARACTER. 

Conjugal  happiness.  Character  as  a  husband.  Letters  to  his  wife. 
Conduct  as  a  father.  Letters  to  his  daughters.  Habits  of  punctual- 
ity. His  son  Alexander:  notice  of  his  death:  letters  to  him,  and  to 
his  widow.  Paternal  counsel  to  one  of  his  daughters  and  her  hus- 
band on  their  marriage,  and  afterwards.  Letters  to  his  daughter 
Jeane  ISTeill,  during  her  illness.  Short  account  of  her  illness  and 
death.  Letters  to  his  sons  :  counsel  to  one  of  them  on  his  entering 
the  University.  Family  gathering.  Letter.  Sketch  of  his  domes- 
tic character  and  habits,  by  one  of  his  daughters :  kindness  to  the 
poor — hospitality — commissions  and  correspondence — strict  sense 
of  duty — course  of  Sabbath  duties — personal  economy — cheerfulness 
— miscellaneous  notices.  Sketch  by  one  of  his  sons  :  his  nationality 
— description  of  a  tent  preaching — Stitchell  Brae — recollections  of 
early  scenes  and  friends — patriotism — poetical  imagination. 

It  is  in  a  man's  dwelling  that  his  heart  is  seen,  and  his  con- 
duct there  is  the  best  test  of  gentleness  and  kindness.  The 
charity  that  blazes  in  public,  and  the  wit  that  charms  the  so- 
cial party,  are  sometimes  conjoined  with  fretfulness  and  sever- 
ity at  home  ;  but  when  the  heart  reserves  for  home  its  best  at- 
tentions and  its  sweetest  smiles,  we  see  in  it  the  power  of  love, 
and  are  confident  that  the  suavity  which  delights  abroad  is 
the  expression  of  a  kindliness  sincere  and  steady.  Amiable  as 
1  )r.  vVaugh  appeared  in  every  circle  in  which  he  mingled,  he 
was  seen  to  the  greatest  advantage  at  home,  for  there  his  heart 
opened  in  all  its  tenderness. 

He  was  exceedingly  happy  in  his  domestic  relations.  To 
his  surviving  partner,  delicacy  forbids  our  paying  the  high 
tribute  her  meriU  deserve  ;  but  we  may  be  allowed  to  state, 


310  CONJUGAL    HAPPINESS. 

that  God  had  given  her  a  vigor  of  mind,  a  prudence,  and  a 
sagacity,  excellently  suited  for  the  duties  to  which  she  was 
called.  To  rear  a  family  in  London  on  an  income  narrow  as 
hers  was  for  many  years,  was  a  task  to  which  many  would 
have  been  found  unequal ;  but  she  fulfilled  it  admirably.  Her 
children  were  reared  and  educated  with  a  respectability  suit- 
able to  their  father's  character  and  profession  ;  and  all  his 
lessons  were  seconded  by  her  counsels,  endeared  by  her  ex- 
ample, and  cherished  by  her  prayers.  To  her  husband's 
comfort,  she  ministered  with  a  zeal  that  never  slumbered, 
and  with  a  kindliness  which  seemed  to  increase  as  his  infir- 
mities required  it.  When  from  home  her  image  was  his 
constant  companion;  and  amidst  the  toils  and  anxieties  of 
his  varied  duties  in  London,  he  leaned  on  her  ever  as  his 
best  earthly  stay.  His  letters  to  her  breathe  the  spirit  of 
refined  yet  manly  tenderness,  and  evince  the  most  entire  con- 
fidence in  her  prudence  and  care,  and  the  fullest  consciousness 
of  their  union  in  those  feelings  and  hopes  which  shed  over 
affection  and  over  home  the  happiest  influences  of  religion. 
There  is  a  delicacy  in  these  effusions  of  his  heart  which 
shows  its  gentleness  and  purity,  and  a  sprightliness  and  ease 
wThich  evince  that  he  felt  how  safely  his  soul  might  trust  in 
her.  Matters  of  this  description,  though  valued  by  the  pos- 
sessor as  a  most  precious  treasure,  are  not  adapted  for  the 
public  eye  ;  and  we  shall  therefore  select  from  them  only  a 
few  passages  in  order  to  illustrate  this  part  of  the  writer's 
character. 

In  one  of  his  letters,  written  from  Berwick  in  1*792,  he  de- 
scribes an  excursion  he  had  taken  to  his  native  place  : — 

"  As   the   day  was  warm,  w7e   did   not   leave 's  till  five 

o'clock.  We  got  to  Cornhill  at  seven.  At  this  village  we  left 
the  Tweed  on  our  right  hand  ;  and  turning  south,  rode  over  a 
charming  country,  passing  by  Flodden  Field  (the  scene  of  a 
most  disastrous  event  to  the  arms  of  Scotland  in  1513).  Our 
conversation  was  to  me  very  pleasing,  as  it  gave  to an  op- 
portunity of  discovering  his  acquaintance  with  elegant  writing, 
and  the  history   of  former  times.      We   talked   together   of  the 


CHARACTER    AS    A    HUSBAND.  311 

good  La  Roche,  of  Uncle  Toby,  of  Shenstone,  and  others  ;  and 
found  our  hearts  warmed  with  the  love  of  nature  and  of  good- 
ness. The  evening  was  serene  and  cool ;  the  road  is  winding, 
and  at  every  step  new  objects  present  themselves  to  the  eye- 
The  hills,  which  are  scattered  on  the  north  of  the  mountain  of 
Cheviot,  and  which  are  all  green  and  smooth,  and  covered  either 
with  corn  or  flocks  of  sheep,  arose  in  all  their  lovely  diversities 
before  us.  When  we  came  to  the  Beaumont  Water,  along  the 
side  of  which  we  rode  for  several  miles  to  Yetholm,  the  sun  had 
set  for  nearly  an  hour ;  and  the  full  moon,  on  our  left,  began  to 
appear  on  the  brow  of  the  hill,  in  color  and  magnitude  very  like 
the  bale-fires  which,  in  ancient  days,  were  lighted  up  to  give  the 
alarm  of  the  incursion  of  the  Borderers  ;  but  very  different  sensa- 
tions now  filled  our  minds,  and  the  most  solemn  stillness  prevailed. 
The  Sabbath  morning  was  misty,  and  when  I  looked  out  at  the 
window  I  beheld  a  scene  truly  Ossianic ; — the  east  wind  rolling 
the  mist  before  it  over  the  face  of  the  hills,  which  rose  majestically 
before  us.  The  day  was  warm ;  but,  by  the  attention  of  the 
elders  in  making  the  meeting-house  as  cool  as  possible,  I  was  less 
incommoded  than  I   feared.     The  only  tiling  that  hurt  my  mind 

was  the  imprudent  conduct  of  a  few  of  the people,  who  had 

come  over  to  hear  me.  We  preach  against  these  tempers,  and 
feel  their  stinging  power  when  they  are  exercised  on  ourselves, 
and  should  with  equal  warmth  oppose  them  when  they  injure  the 
peace  of  others. 

"  On  the  Monday  we  went  to  Caldron-brae.  My  brother  was 
very  kind  ;  but  the  recollection  of  a  parent  who  could  welcome  me 
no  more,  rushed  upon  my  mind,  and  occasioned  the  most  uneasy 
night  I  ever  spent  there.  I  rode  up  to  Gordon,  and  visited  the 
graves  of  my  parents,  the  cottage  where  I  was  born,  the  springs 
whore  I  used  to  drink  when  tending  my  Father's  cattle,  and  the 
cairns  where  I  have  sheltered  myself  from  the  summer's  shower. 
My  mind  was  transported  back  to  the  scenes  of  infancy  and  youth, 
and  I  started  at  the  thought  that  I  was  a  man,  had  a  family,  and 
was  stationed  four  hundred  miles  distant  from  these  muirland  but 
beloved  abodes.  I  thought  of  you,  and  my  heart  felt  delighted  and 
grateful  for  the  gracious  appointments  of  Providence.  I  took  the 
liberty  to  present  your  namesake  with  a  crown  piece  from  you, 
which  was  received  with  a  hundred  times  more  thankfulness  than 
its  value  entitled  it  to. 

"By  a  letter  from  Mr.  ,  I  learn  that  the  God  of   peace 


312  CHARACTER   AS    A    HUSBAND. 

hath  preserved  peace  in  the  Synod.  There  is  no  body  of  Chris- 
tians that  I  am  acquainted  with,  which,  for  purity  of  faith, 
learning,  exemplary  lives,  and  visible  usefulness,  is  equally  re- 
spectable with  our  Synod  and  our  brethren  the  Antiburghers. 
Any  division,  therefore,  must  materially  injure  the  cause  of  re- 
ligion itself,  as  well  as  the  comfort  of  our  own  minds.  It  is  happy 
for  the  church  of  Christ,  that  all  her  concerns  are  infinitely 
dearer  to  the  Son  of  God  than  they  can  be  to  man  ;  and  that 
whatever  storms  the  ill  tempers  of  our  minds  may  raise,  he  rules 
the  storm,  and  can  cause  its  fury  to  abate.  In  the  hollow  of  his 
hand  is  her  refuge  and  hiding-place.  What  he  is  to  the  church 
in  general,  every  individual  Christian  will  find  him  to  be  to 
himself  in  particular.  He  hath  been  to  you  and  me,  my  dear, 
our  best  friend — the  Angel  which  hath  redeemed  us  from  all 
evil,  the  God  who  hath  fed  us  all  our  life  long,  to  this  day.  Let 
us,  therefore,  cleave  to  him  with  growing  eagerness  of  heart. 
When  earthly  props  are  withdrawn,  let  us  acknowledge  God's 
justice  in  the  withdrawment — for  we  have  probably  leaned  in- 
temperately  on  them — and  take  the  firmer  hold  of  His  arm,  who 
cannot  disappoint  the  confidence  that  is  placed  in  him.  In  this 
gracious  God,  my  dear,  let  us  repose  confidence  for  ourselves 
and  our  rising  family.  In  a  land  of  strangers,  God  hath  raised 
up  frequently  unexpected  friends  ;  and  the  love  of  God  hath  mani- 
fested to  us,  I  hope  he  will  continue  to  our  children,  whom  we 
have  offered  up  to  him  in  baptism,  and  whom  it  will  be  our  earnest 
care  to  bring  up  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  and  in  habits  of  sober 
industry.  Take  them,  my  love,  to  your  arms  and  lift  up  your 
heart  to  God  for  their  salvation.  I  shall  not  put  my  name  to  this 
paper,  till  I  have  bowed  my  knees  to  the  God  and  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  your  behalf  and  theirs." 

It  is  delightful  to  compare  the  ardent  attachment  and 
hopes  of  his  youth,  with  the  tenderness  and  the  gratitude 
which  he  felt,  when  far  advanced  in  years,  to  her  whose  ex- 
cellence had  honored,  whose  care  had  cherished,  and  whose 
affection  had  blessed  him.  The  cheek  may  lose  its  bloom, 
but  it  is  as  lovely  as  ever  to  the  tender  heart ;  and  the  eye 
may  become  dim,  but  there  is  a  power  in  its  fading  lustre, 
when  lighted  by  kindness,  which  delights  the  evening  of 
life. 


CHARACTER    AS    A    liL'SIJAND.  313 

Thus,  in  the  following  letters  : — 

"  Shcerness,  Aug.  5, 1803. 
"  Though  I  have  little  to  say,  I  cannot  resist  the  inclination 
to  write  to  you.     You  are  ever  uppermost,  of  all  earthly  beings, 
in  my  thoughts.      I  can  truly  say,  with  Goldsmith   to  his  bro- 
ther,— 

'  Where'er  I  go — whatever  realms  I  see, 
My  heart  untravelled  fondly  turns  to  thee ; 
Still  to  my  Mary  turns,  with  ceaseless  pain, 
And  drags  at  each  remove  a  lengthening  chain.' 

My  anxieties,  fears,  hopes,  and  wishes,  all  hover  around  you  and 
the  children  whom  God  has  given  to  us.  How  much  need  have 
we  to  cast  all  our  care  upon  God,  whose  power  alone  can  sup- 
port, and  whose  bounty  alone  can  supply  us  and  ours  !  To  him 
let  us  raise  our  eyes ;  him  let  us  take  hold  of  with  our  earnest 
prayers ;  in  his  wise  management  let  us  leave  all  our  concerns. 

Bid read  to-night,  among  other  passages,  the  90th  and  121st 

Psalms.  Good  night,  my  dear  wife.  I  shall  not  sleep  till  I  have 
bowed  my  knees  to  our  heavenly  Father  for  you  and  our  dear 
children." 

"  Harrowgate,  Aug.  4, 1825. 
"  My  spirits  sink  when  the  dark  images  which  the  season 
awakens  in  my  mind  rise  before  me.  On  the  second  of  this 
month  last  year,  we  lost  our  beloved  Alexander;  on  this  day 
thirty-six  years,  my  dear  mother;  and  on  Monday  next  five 
years,  my  honest  and  affectionate  brother.  But  the  10th*  I 
shall  never  pass  over  without  devout  gratitude  to  God,  and  the 
exercise  of  the  tenderest  and  most  grateful  feelings  towards  the 
most  faithful  wife  and  affectionate  parent.  I  can  assure  you,  my 
best  beloved  and  most  endeared  wife,  I  shall  carry  to  the  grave 
with  me  a  deep  and  lively  feeling  of  all  the  kindness  and  care 
you  have  for  these  nine-and-thirty  years  employed  towards 
me,  and  my  last  prayer  shall  be  that  Heaven  may  abundantly 
reward  you  in  the  growing  and  well-rooted  hope  of  a  better 
|jfe  ***** 

" is  an  evangelical  preacher,  and  has  here  a  large  field 

of  usefulness  opened  to  him  among  a  genteel  people,  who  have 

*  The  day  of  hid  marriag< 

I  I 


314  CHARACTER   AS    A    HUSBAND. 

hitherto  enjoyed  the  pure  administration  of  the  Gospel.  O !  had 
it  been  the  will  of  God  to  have  introduced  our  dear  departed 
darling  into  such  a  sphere!  But — not  one  murmuring  word  I — 
he  is  spending  his  Sabbath  in  sublimer  service,  and  with  more 
sacred  delight,  than  the  most  devout  below  can  partake  of.  Let 
the  hope  of  being  soon  united  to  him  reconcile  our  hearts  to  his 
absence." 


On  the  anniversary  of  their  marriage  : — 


"  Let  us  bless  God,  who  has  lengthened  out  the  period  of  our 
union  to  such  a  space  ;  who  hath  so  long  borne  with  us,  so  long 
supplied  our  wants,  protected  us  amidst  many  dangers,  raised  up 
many  friends,  and  enabled  us  to  bring  up  our  dear  family  in  use- 
ful learning,  in  good  habits,  and  in  respectable  callings.  Let  us 
bless  God  for  the  encouraging  appearance  of  true  religion  which 
they  have  been  enabled  to  give;  and  especially  for  the  faith, 
patience,  and  heavenly  hope,  which  our  beloved  son  illustrated 
in  his  long  illness,  and  at  the  close  of  his  days.  Let  us  deeply 
mourn  over  our  own  manifold  deficiencies,  and  implore  aid  from 
Heaven  to  fill  up  the  short  space  of  our  appointed  time  with 
suitable  exercises  of  mind  towards  God,  our  dear  children,  and 
one  another. 

"  I  am  sitting  in  our  parlor ;  and  a  more  lovely  scene  can 
scarcely  be  presented  than  that  before  me.  O  that  I  could  give 
you  and  our  dear  invalid  the  wings  of  a  dove,  as  you  already 
have  its  innocence,  to  bring  you,  by  the  time  the  sun  sinks  be- 
hind the  Craven  mountains,  to  our  healthy  and  peaceful  habi- 
tation !' 

He  mentions  to  her  in  these  letters  the  state  of  his  health, 
about  which  she  felt  the  most  affectionate  anxiety.  He  was 
subject  to  frequent  internal  disorders,  and  to  attacks  of  gout 
in  one  of  his  feet,  which  required  great  caution  on  his  part, 
and  excited  the  tenderest  solicitude  on  hers.  "When  he  went 
to  watering-places  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  she  accom- 
panied him,  if  the  state  of  the  family  permitted  ;  and  how 
touching  is  this  allusion  to  her  in  a  letter  to  one  of  his 
daughters  ! 

"  Your  other  friends  are  well,  and,  as  an  evidence  of  spiritual 


CHARACTER    AS    A    HUSBAND.  315 

health,  are  at  the  kirk,  though  strangely  divided ;  some  being  at 
Lady  Huntingdon's  chapel,  others  at  Dr.  Styles',  and  the  lads  at 
the  Church  of  England  sanctuary,  hearing  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  preach  for  the  national  schools.  But  your  mother 
stays  at  home,  and  reads  the  Bible  to  me.  With  her  ceaseless 
care  I  feel  myself  at  all  times  happily  surrounded.  I  myself  can 
never  repay  what  I  owe  her,  and  must  crave  the  aid  of  my  chil- 
dren's filial  affection  to  lessen  the  debt." 

lie  ever  informs  her  of  the  kindnesses  he  met  with.     He 

notices  in  one  letter  the  rude  and  ungrateful  conduct  of  a 
person  whom  he  had  labored  hard  to  serve,  and  who,  in  his 
absence,  had  behaved  most  insolently  to  his  family  : 

"  I  am  grieved,  my  love,  that  you  should  have  been  flurried  so 
much  with  his  rudeness.  One  would  think  that  I  had  gotten 
ungrateful  returns  sufficient  to  cool  my  Quixotic  disposition  of 
interfering  in  other  people's  distresses.  But  you  know  who  says, 
'Be  not  weary  in  well-doing.'  Yes,  you  say  ;  but  we  should  also 
be  cautious  in  well-doing.     Admitted  :  I  am  done." 


It  is  a  very  interesting*  circumstance,  that  Dr.  Waugli,  ex- 
tensive as  his  kindness  was,  seldom  met  with  ungrateful  re- 
turns :  there  was  that  in  his  manner  which  touched  the 
hearts  of  the  objects  of  his  bounty,  and  made  ingratitude  to 
a  man  so  good  appear  doubly  criminal.  Few  whom  he 
obliged  had  it  in  their  power  to  requite  him  ;  but  Providence 
raised  up  friends  who  delighted  to  honor  him,  and  he  felt  in 
this  the  agency  of  that  God  who  fulfils  the  wishes  of  the 
grateful,  and  shows  to  them  the  benefactor,  whom  they  wish 
to  be  happy,  blessed,  though  not  by  their  requitals,  yet  blessed 
for  their  sake.  Providence  loves  to  pay  the  debt  of  gratitude, 
and  to  the  merciful  it  will  show  itself  merciful.  In  his  letters 
to  his  partner,  he  delights  to  trace  the  bountiful  dealings  of 
God  with  him  and  his. 

"  Woolwich,  May  7,  1812. 

"  This  is  our  dear 's  birth-day.     I  hope  you  will  give  all 

the  young  folks  a  glass  of  wine  to  its  memory  :  and  if  you  add 


316  CHARACTER    AS    A    HUSBAND. 

a  quarter  of  an  hour's  devout  supplication  to  God  for  his  divine 
blessing  on  his  person  and  prospects,  so  much  the  better.  But  I 
know  you  will  not  forget  him.  We  cannot  lay  up  any  earthly 
good  for  our  dear  children ;  therefore  the  more  let  us  lay  up  a 
stock  of  humble  and  earnest  prayers  before  the  throne  on  their 
behalf. 

"  This  day  will  also  bring  to  your  grateful  remembrance  the 
unceasing  care  of  Providence  about  ourselves,  since  God  made 
you  the  joyful  mother  of  a  first-born  son.  How  kindly  and  sea- 
sonably hath  he  supplied  our  wants — removed  mountains  of  diffi- 
culties, which  our  feeble  arms  could  not  remove ;  raised  up 
friends  in  quarters  how  unexpected ;  brought  us  back  from  the 
gates  of  death ;  protected  us  on  the  mighty  deep,  and  preserved 
our  numerous  family.  Therefore  let  us  Jove  and  reverence  him 
all  our  days,  and  do  what  in  us  lies  to  bring  our  dear  children  to 
make  the  surrender  of  their  hearts  to  God,  to  choose  him  for  the 
guide  of  their  youth,  as  the  best  method  of  securing  his  arm  to  be 
the  staff  of  their  old  age. 

"As  our  children  have  increased  in  number  and  in  wants, 
God's  bounty  hath  graciously  kept  pace.  From  quarters  unlike- 
ly have  our  supplies  come,  and  in  a  manner  so  gentle  and  so 
kind  as  to  double  the  benefit.  How  much  do  I  owe  to  my  dear 
people  !  May  the  Lord  reward  their  goodness  a  hundred-fold 
in  their  own  bosoms !  I  pray  God  to  give  me  a  renewal  of  health 
and  spirits  to  serve  them.  Give  the  children  some  token  of  their 
father's  love  and  welfare,  and  cause  Thomas  to  read  the  48th 
chapter  of  Genesis." 

In  a  postscript  he  says, — 

"Tell that  I  shall  bring  him  a  curious  purse,  made  in 

Greenland,  of  seal-skin,  if  he  continues  to  be  kind  to  you,  and  a 
quiet  and  good  boy.  I  have  been  gathering  some  beautiful  pebbles 
for  him,  which  is  all  the  beach  affords." 

To  those  who  love  to  trace  the  workings  of  a  father's 
heart  such  little  notices  will  not  appear  insignificant;  nor 
can  we  conceive  anything  more  happily  adapted  to  teach 
children  to  mingle  pious  gratitude  with  the  pleasurable  feel- 
ings which  make  religion  lovely,  than  to  tell  them  that  a  pa- 
rent wishes    them  to  lift    up  their    hearts  to    the    God  that 


HIS    PARENTAL    CHARACTER.  31 7 

makes  him  happy,  and  that  it  will  delight  him  when  fancy- 
brings  to  his  ear  the  voice  of  their  psalms. 

His  conduct  as  a  father  next  claims  our  attention  ;  and  he 
possessed  qualifications  of  no  ordinary  cast  for  forming  his 
children  to  intellectual  and  moral  excellence.  He  who  ex- 
plained the  principles,  and  inculcated  the  feelings  and  duties 
of  religion  from  the  pulpit  with  so  much  perspicuity  and  af- 
fectionate earnestness,  did  not  fail  to  employ  the  same  mode 
in  his  own  dwelling.  Persuasion  was  his  plan  in  both.  His 
great  object  was  to  make  religion  appear  amiable  to  his  chil- 
dren ;  and  while  he  endeavored  to  teach  them  the  great  arti- 
cles of  our  faith,  as  they  were  able  to  bear  it,  he  never  failed 
to  associate  with  them  the  dispositions  they  require,  and  the 
obedience  they  should  animate.  That  beautiful  passage  de- 
scriptive of  Jehovah's  conduct  to  Israel,  was  most  applicable 
to  his  domestic  tuition, — "  When  Israel  was  a  child,  then  I 
loved  him.  I  taught  Ephraim  also  to  go,  taking  them  by 
their  arms ;  I  drew  them  with  cords  of  a  man,  with  bands  of 
love." 

There  are  some  parents  who,  in  their  eagerness  to  make 
doctrinal  points  plain  to  children,  debase  them  by  vulgar 
phrases  and  familiar  allusions  ;  but  this  he  never  did  :  and 
while  some  by  excessive  softness  encourage  children  to  trifle 
with  their  religious  exercises,  and  to  deem  it  of  little  conse- 
quence how  they  acquit  themselves  to  them  in  such  a  task, 
there  was  no  point  of  parental  duty  to  which  he  was  more 
strictly  attentive  ;  well  knowing  that  piety  to  God  is  the 
only  soil  in  which  the  social  virtues  can  be  securely  planted 
in  the  human  heart.  He  was  partial  to  the  Catechisms  of 
his  native  country,  for  the  soundness  of  their  sentiments,  and 
for  the  conciseness  and  accuracy  of  their  expressions,  and 
because  they  recalled  so  tenderly  to  his  mind  the  period 
when  he  used  to  repeat  them,  standing  beside  his  father's 
knee,  and  wdien  his  mother  drew  from  them  the  counsels 
by  which  she  labored  to  make  him  wise  unto  salvation. 
In  his  work  of  catechizing  and  instructing  his  children,  he 
never  suffered  anything  to  interfere.     An  hour  every  Satur- 


318  LETTERS    TO    HIS   DAUGHTERS. 

day  evening  was  devoted  to  this  purpose ;  and  amidst  all  the 
multiplicity  of  his  public  avocations,  the  incessant  calls  on 
his  time  by  private  applicants,  and  his  preparations  for  the 
ministerial  services  of  the  ensuing  Sabbath,  this  duty  was 
never  neglected. 

His  letters  to  his  children  are  fraught  with  excellent  coun- 
sels, and  expressed  in  a  most  pleasing  and  affectionate  style. 
Nothing  so  powerfully  impressed  us  in  reading  them  as  the  mi- 
nuteness of  his  anxiety  about  his  family.  How  triumphantly 
do  they  refute  any  charge  that  may  be  brought  against  him 
of  having  lost  his  parental  character  in  that  of  the  public  ser- 
vant!  No  minutiae  of  their  schooling,  their  finances,  .their 
dress,  their  tempers,  are  forgotten,  and  these  form  the  sub- 
jects of  letters  written  during  the  anxiety  and  hurry  of  his 
missionary  journeys.  We  do  not  remember  one — even  a 
hurried  note  of  four  or  five  lines — without  some  spiritual 
counsel.  This  is  an  undoubted  evidence  of  how  he  had  at- 
tained to  setting  the  Lord  always  before  him.  We  shall 
furnish  various  extracts.  To  one  of  his  daughters  he  thus 
writes : — 

"  We  welcomed  your  letter  with  much  gratitude  to  God,  and 
joy  of  heart.  Cherish  ever  in  your  mind  a  deep  sense  of  your 
obligations  to  Divine  Providence  in  all  instances  of  its  favor  and 
kindness  to  you.  Gratitude,  especially  to  God,  is  a  lovely  virtue, 
and  particularly  amiable  in  the  bosom  of  a  young  person.  People 
of  the  first  character  for  good  sense  and  religion,  have  taken  pains 
to  mark  down  and  to  preserve  the  memory  of  particular  providences, 
by  the  review  of  which  afterwards  their  hearts  have  been  cheered 
and  comforted. 

"  On  Monday  afternoon  I  sprained  my  foot,  in  suddenly  trying 
to  get  out  of  the  way  of  an  unmanageable  horse  in  Oxford 
Street.  He  rushed  on  the  foot-pavement,  and  at  last  fell,  with 
his  rider,  over  a  poor  old  barrow-woman.  I  expected  nothing 
but  death  to  them  both;  but,  though  much  bruised,  their  lives 
were  preserved.  To  how  many  dangers  are  we  every  moment 
exposed,  from  which  God's  unseen  and  merciful  arm  protects  us  ! 
How  much  is  it  our  duty  to  consecrate  the  lives  thus  spared,  and 
the  health  he  bestows  upon  us,  to  his  honor !     How  awful  will 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  319 

be  the  sudden  death  of  persons,  young  or  old,  who  have  not  sur- 
rendered their  hearts  to  Jesus  Christ,  to  be  cleansed  from  sin,  and, 
by  the  introduction  of  good  and  virtuous  tempers,  to  be  prepared 
for  the  future  greatness  and  felicity  of  our  nature  ! 

"  Be  studious  to  please  your  friends ;  but,  above  all,  study  to 
please  God,  by  keeping  a  constant  guard  over  your  thoughts, 
words,  and  actions,  by  bowing  your  knees  devoutly  morning  and 
evening  before  his  throne,  and  pouring  out  not  words,  but  your 
heart  before  him.  Mind,  wherever  you  are,  that  God  is  present, 
and  that  we  must  all  appear  at  last  before  the  judgment-seat  of 
Christ.  Devote  your  young  heart  to  the  Son  of  God,  to  be  purified 
from  all  sinful  inclinations,  and  to  be  adorned  with  piety,  truth,  and 
meekness. 

"  My  health  becomes  an  object  of  concern  to  me,  on  your  ac- 
count, and  that  of  your  brothers  and  sisters.  I  wish  to  live,  that 
I  may  tell  you  of  the  Saviour  who  died  for  you,  and  teach  you  to 
walk  in  him.  Ever  associate  with  being  a  Christian  everything 
that  is  honorable,  pure,  and  kind.  It  is  no  easy  matter  to  be  a 
Christian.  Strive  to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate  ;  for  many  are 
they  who  are  going  the  broad  way  down  to  hell,  with  a  mere  pro- 
fession of  religion  in  their  countenance.  You  are  now,  my  dear, 
arrived  at  a  time  of  life  when  you  should  take  a  decided  part  in 
the  great  concern  of  your  salvation.  Look  up  to  God  for  divine 
direction,  and  beware  of  putting  off  till  to-morrow  the  duty  of  to- 
day. It  is  of  vast  moment  that  we  attend  to  the  great  concerns  of 
immortality,  before  the  cares  of  this  life,  and  the  broken  state  of 
our  health,  throw  impediments  in  our  way. 

"  To-morrow  is  the  day  on  which  the  Son  of  God  rose  from  the 
dead.  His  Father,  in  raising  him,  gave  a  public  testimony  of 
the  acceptance  of  his  sacrifice  on  the  cross,  and  thereby  authorizes 
us  to  lean  with  entire  confidence  on  it  for  the  remission  of  our 
sins.  If  united  to  him,  we  shall  live  to  God  ;  and  you  cannot 
begin  to  do  that  too  soon ; — we  shall  be  secured  from  the  sting 
of  death  ;  and  how  many  a  youthful  heart  hath  it  pierced !  We 
are  the  disciples  of  Christ  just  as  we  are  influenced  by  his  Spirit. 
That  Spirit,  by  the  word  of  God  dwelling  in  us,  and  coming  into 
immediate  contact  with  our  faculties,  enlightens  what  is  dark, 
purifies  what  is  foul,  heals  what  is  morally  diseased,  and  invigo- 
rates what  is  feeble  in  our  souls.  Study,  in  reading  the  Bible,  to 
remember  that  it  is  Christ  who  is  speaking  to  you  through  John, 
and  Paul,  and   Peter.     In  prayer,  pour  out  not   suitable  words 


320  LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS. 

only,  but  your  very  heart  and  soul,  to  your  Father  in  heaven. 
While  you  "lean  for  heaven  solely  on  the  worth  of  Christ,  put  forth 
all  your  strength  in  the  ways  of  religion,  as  if  all  depended  on 
your  own  labor. 

"  Take  a  deep  interest  in  the  spread  and  success  of  the  gospel, 
and  let  not  your  heart  be  cold  to  an  object  so  dear  to  your  father's. 

Your  little  friend  at  M ,  a  lovely  creature,  told  her  mother,  on 

the  morning  of  the  day  I  preached  there,  '  that  she  was  going  to 
take  two  shillings  out  of  her  money-box  to  give  to  the  collection, 
to  buy  a  Bible  for  the  poor  black  folk,  who  live  beyond  the 
sea.'  " 

From  his  letters  to  another  of  his  daughters,  we  extract  tne 
following  passages :  the  first  two  were  written  to  her  at  a  very 

early  age  : — 

"  Sheerness. 

"  I  am  come  down  here  to  spend  a  few  days  for  the  change  of 

air  and  sea-bathing.     Before  I  left  London,  your  dear  brother , 

who  had  been  visited  with  the  scarlet  fever,  and  which  had 
alarmed  us  greatly,  was  getting  better.  Your  life,  my  dear  lamb, 
is  very  uncertain.  Pray  daily  to  God  to  put  his  fear  in  your 
young  heart,  to  dispose  you  to  love  him,  and  to  obey  his  holy 
commandments.  He  has  hitherto  preserved  you  all  in  life  to  us, 
but  we  cannot  say  how  long  he  may  extend  this  grace,  nor  which 
of  us  shall  first  be  called  away.  Continue  to  mind  your  educa- 
tion, and  to  be  greatly  on  your  guard  against  improper  company. 
Let  nothing  induce  you  to  neglect  your  duty  to  God  morning  and 

evening.     Call  frequently  on  good  Mrs. ;    her  conversation 

will  benefit  your  mind.     Call  on also,  and  read  to  her,  the 

first  time  you  call,  at  my  desire,  the  8th  chapter  in  the  Romans, 
the  blessings  of  which  she  will  soon  understand  better  in  heaven. 
Give  my  sympathy  and  love  to  her.  It  is  seventeen  years  to- 
morrow, my  dear,  since  your  excellent  mother  was  married.  I 
cannot  wish  anything  better  for  you,  my  love,  than  that  God  would 
enable  you  to  imitate  the  virtues  of  such  a  mother,  and  try  every 
day  to  become  more  like  to  her.  Farewell,  my  dear  daughter ! 
the  God  of  your  fathers  bless  you,  and  make  you  good  now,  and 
happy  hereafter !" 

"  Manchester. 

"  If  Mr.  R have  Newton's  hymns,  I  think  you  might  daily 

commit  a  part  of  one  of  them  to  memory;    they  will    comfort 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  321 

your  heart,  and  supply  your  mind  with  materials  of  profitable 
musing  when  you  are  alone.  On  the  same  principle,  as  your 
memory  is  good,  you  might  make  yourself  mistress  of  some  suit- 
able portions  of  God's  blessed  word,  such  as  53d  Isaiah  ;  the  51st, 
63d.  116th  Psalms;  the  8th  Romans,  and  the  whole  1st  Epistle 
of  Peter.  Take  your  time,  so  as  not  to  fatigue  yourself.  When 
you  walk  out,  be  sure  that  there  is  no  appearance  of  rain  before 
you  go.  If  caught  in  a  shower,  never  neglect  to  change  your 
clothes  whenever  you  get  home.  Do  not  sit  for  a  moment  with 
wet  feet.  Take  care  also,  my  dear,  of  walking  too  far  at  once, 
as  over-exertion  is  to  you  most  dangerous  ;  a  little  and  often 
will  be  found  best  for  you.  I  am  sure  you  will  not  neglect  your 
secret  devotions.  Mind,  my  dear,  that  it  is  with  God  that  you 
have  to  do,  and  therefore  let  your  heart  be  sincere  in  every- 
thing." 

"Dublin,  July  20,  1812. 

"  My  dearest  Girl, — As  soon  as  I  return  I  shall  provide  a 
French  teacher  for  you,  and  do  everything  in  my  power  to  ad- 
vance the  cultivation  of  your  mind.  In  the  meanwhile,  I  think, 
if  you  could  spare  the  time,  you  might  read  over  Guthrie's  Geog- 
raphy, on  the  article  '  England,'  by  which  you  will  obtain  an 
outline  of  the  constitution  and  history  of  your  country.  You 
may  read  also  Milton's  poetical  works.  By  Divine  permission,  I 
hope,  during  the  coming  winter,  that  means  will  be  taken  to  pro- 
mote, in  an  effectual  measure,  that  preparation  of  mind  which  is 
necessary  to  your  future  welfare.  There  is  a  gracious  Provi- 
dence. Let  us  look  up  to  and  lean  upon  its  care  and  guidance, 
and  take  those  steps  which  our  reason,  and  the  experience  of 
good  men,  recommend  to  our  adoption.  Of  all  families,  mine  is 
the  last  that  should  (list rust  the  Divine  care  and  love.  I  hope  the 
children's  education  goes  on  well,  and  that  their  catechism  is  not 
forgotten  any  evening.  Farewell,  my  dear  daughter.  Pray  for 
me,  that  my  life,  while  it  lasts,  may  be  useful,  that  I  may  finish 
my  course  with  joy,  and,  through  the  abundant  mercy  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  be  admitted  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  eternal 
inheritance." 

"  Salisbury  Place,  Feb.  16,  1813. 

"  I  have  begun  my  visitations,  in  the  hope  of  preventing  an 
utter  bankruptcy.  But  I  shall  be  able  to  spare  an  hour  in  the 
week  for  putting  down  a  few  thoughts  to  you.      I  am  pleased 

14* 


322  LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS. 

with  your  prospect  of  reading  Paley's  Evidences.  God,  I  hope, 
will  impart  to  you  the  inward  witness  of  his  good  Spirit  to  the 
truth  of  Christianity,  in  the  holy  dispositions  of  the  renewed  nature. 
These  are  the  seal  of  Heaven,  and  give  assurance  equal  to  that 
of  miracles.  I  should  wish  you  to  study  the  character  of  our 
Redeemer  as  given  in  the  four  Evangelists,  and  mark  down  as  you 
proceed  the  virtues  of  his  heart,  rising  to  your  view,  and  attract- 
ing your  wonder  and  your  love.  Tell  me,  as  you  proceed,  what 
you  think  of  him. 

"  Your  memory  is  good.  Commit  to  it  Pope's  Messiah,  Par- 
nell's  Hermit,  Beattie's  ditto,  and  that  fine  passage  in  the  fourth 
night  of  Dr.  Young's  Night  Thoughts,  '  Survey  the  wondrous,' 
&c.  I  will  give  you  a  new  gown  if  you  will  say  without  book 
the  first  Epistle  of  Peter,  when  you  come  home.  Watch  over 
your  thoughts,  for  there  the  mischief  begins.  David  remem- 
bered God's  name  in  the  night,  and  kept  his  law.  Imitate  his 
example. 

;'  The  enclosed  was  in  the  box,  from  Mr. as  we  suppose. 

The  opening  wTas  your  mother's  doing,  and  in  the  face  of  my  pro- 
testation. The  contents  are  not  Lady  Kilda's  wonderful  serpents, 
but  lessons  of  instruction  on  two  small  screens,  in  separate  small 
patches,  to  the  amount  of  half  a  hundred  at  least,  neatly  written 
and  elegantly  composed,  very  useful  to  an  inexperienced,  bouncings 
yet  well-disposed  young  woman.  I  promised  you  half-a-guinea, 
you  know,  for  the  contents,  whatever  they  might  be.  But  now 
I  will  give  you  the  contents  and  the  half-guinea  too,  on  the  con- 
sideration of  your  repeating,  at  midsummer,  all  the  precious  morsels 
of  instruction  inscribed  on  the  screens,  and  half-a-guinea  in  addi- 
tion if  you  will  put  down  an  equal  number  of  wise  sayings  to 
those  by  Mr. ," 

"  In    attending  the  ministry  of  Mr.  ,  you  will  find   that, 

though  his  manner  is  not  so  pleasant  as  that  of  some  others,  the 
sentiment  of  his  sermons  is  solid  and  valuable.  The  manner  is 
only  an  inferior  consideration,  and  your  good  sense  will  easily 
bear  with  it." 

"  We  come  to  God's  house,"  he  remarked  on  another  occasion, 
"  not  as  people  of  taste,  but  as  poor,  guilty,  destitute  sinners,  to 
listen  to  the  offers  of  salvation.  When  ministers  try  to  say 
clever  things,  and  to  make  their  periods  round  and  sonorous, 
they  blunt  the  points  of  the  arrows  of  God's  quiver,  by  wrapping 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  323 

soft  silky  materials  around  them.      We  cannot  expect  wounded 
consciences  in  such  a  playful  and  childish  warfare." 

"  You  may  well  be  shocked  at  the  marks  of  dislike  to  religion 
that  you  will  see  in  some  around  you.  How  a  rational  mind 
can  resist  the  evidences  of  our  dear  Saviour's  mission,  and  how  a 
heart  possessing  sensibility  can  remain  dead  to  the  influence  of 
his  love  in  dying  for  us,  are  to  me  unaccountable.  But  God  is 
sovereign  in  bestowing  his  light  and  grace.  Bless  his  holy  name, 
that  he  hath,  by  his  Spirit,  formed  in  your  heart  the  lovely 
principles  of  piety  and  goodness.  Cherish  these  principles  with 
the  utmost  care,  and  avoid  everything  that  would  weaken  their 
influence.  Show  the  power  of  religion  over  your  own  heart,  by 
a  circumspect,  mild,  humble,  and  pleasant  conversation.  Yield  to 
none  in  whatsoever  things  are  true,  just,  lovely,  pure,  and  of  good 
report.  The  unsuitable  lives  of  professors  wonderfully  strengthen 
the  cause  of  infidelity.  It  will  receive  no  strength,  I  humbly  hope, 
from  your  dear  brother's  life  or  yours.  I  have  not  bowed  my 
knees  to  God  without  fervently  commending  you  both  to  his 
gracious  guardianship.  When  you  are  without  company,  con- 
verse with  him  in  the  house,  or  in  your  walks,  about  the  best 
things, — things  which  derive  their  importance  from  eternity.  I 
leave  you  in  the  care  of  God,  to  whom  you  were  dedicated  in 
baptism,  to  whom  you  have  consecrated  yourself  at  his  sacred 
table,  and  to  whom  your  father  and  mother  have,  times  out  of 
number,  committed  you." 

"  You  have  heard  unfavorable  reports  of  an  acquaintance,  and  it 
may  be  prudent  in  you  to  withdraw  your  correspondence  for  a 
time  at  least ;  but  you  will  on  no  account  propagate  these  reports 
in  conversation, — no,  not  to  your  most  intimate  friend.  A  young 
woman's  character  is  her  all ;  and  it  is  barbarous  to  wound  the 
fallen,  or  accelerate  the  fall  of  the  sliding,  or  to  make  the  ground 
slippery  on  which  they  stand.  But  I  know  you  hold  in  high  scorn 
such  low  and  vulgar  usages." 

"  The  state  of  the  weather,  of  late,  has  been  like  the  christian 
life,  various  and  changeable  ;  but  there  is  a  glorious  day  coming, 
— a  day  of  unclouded  lustre, — a  day  that  shall  be  followed  by  no 
evening.  In  the  hope  of  that  day,  let  us  patiently  bear  up  under 
the  vicissitudes  of  the  present  life.  It  is  a  Father  who  manages 
our  lot :  look  up  to  him,  and  say, '  Thou  art  my  Father,  the  Guide 
of  my  youth.'  Lean  on  him  with  unshaken  confidence.  Endeavor 
to  form  your  practice  on  the  model  of  the  Saviour's  example  ;  and 


324  LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS. 

be  assured  that  the  perfection  of  your  character  lies  in  being  like 
to  him." 

"  At  length  the  sun  has  burst  out  from  under  the  long  obscurity, 
and  brought  with  him  the  cheering  hope  of  ripened  fields  and 
abundant  supply.  What  a  father  is  our  Father  in  heaven  !  What 
a  family  his  exhaustless  liberality  daily  supplies  and  supports ! 
Yet,  as  if  all  this  profusion  were  but  a  scanty  display  of  his  good- 
ness, he  has  given  to  a  guilty  world  his  own  Son.  Let  us  love 
him,  lean  on  him,  and  obey  him." 

"  On  the  subject  of  your  last  letter,  I  shall  lay  down  two  or 
three  general  principles,  on  which  it  will  be  found  wise  to  rest. 
One  fundamental  principle  is  this,  that  the  finished  work  of 
Christ  is  the  sole  foundation  of  all  our  hope,  Isaiah  xxviii.  16; 
1st  Peter  ii.  6,  7.  Another  principle  is  this,  that  the  man  who 
builds  on  this  foundation — who  reposes  trust  and  confidence  in 
the  atoning  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God,  shall  be  pardoned,  blessedj 
and  saved,  Romans  v.  1  ;  Acts  xiii.  38,  39.  Another  principle 
is  this,  that  true  faith  in  Christ  will  diffuse  peace  over  the  mind 
in  proportion  to  its  strength,  and  will  induce  a  man  to  resist  the 
power  of  inward  corruption,  and  to  cultivate  a  spirit  of  love  to 
the  Saviour,  to  his  laws,  to  his  institutions,  and  to  his  people, 
1st  Peter  i.  22.  Another  principle  is  this,  that  sensible  joy  in 
true  religion  does  not  always  flow  even  from  real  faith  in  Christ. 
It  may  be  hindered  by  the  weakness  of  our  faith,  by  the  state  of 
our  animal  spirits,  by  the  pressure  of  outward  calamity,  and 
other  causes.  It  is  very  dangerous,  therefore,  to  lean  on  frames, 
which  are  always  insecure  and  changeable.  Our  duty  is  calmly 
to  place  our  humble,  but  firm  confidence  in  the  obedience  and 
death  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  go  forward,  with  holy  determination 
of  soul,  amidst  the  spiritual  fogs  and  mists  which  God  may 
occasionally  suffer  to  envelop  us.  The  foundation  of  God 
standeth  sure.  Let  us  rear  our  hopes  on  this  foundation,  and 
in  the  end  all  shall  be  well.  Remember  that  God  is  sovereign 
in  disposing  of  the  sensible  joys  of  religion,  and  bow  down  to  that 
sovereignty." 

"  Salisbury  Place,  Aug.  29,  1817. 

"  In  regard  to  the  places  which  you  wish  to  see,  I  fear  that, 

by  the  associations  in  my  mind,  I  have  attached  to  them  more 

inrerest  than   you  will   think   them   entitled   to.      The   ruins  of 

Norham  Castle  are  important  in  themselves,  and  as  the  first  scene 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  325 

in  Marmion.  The  view  down  and  up  the  Tweed  from  Coldstream 
Bridge — the  view  from  Kelso  Bridge  up  the  Tweed  and  Teviot, 
— the  ruins  of  Roxburgh  Castle,  and  view  from  it.  Pincl  Haugb, 
near  Ancrum,  on  which  the  monument  to  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton is  reared,  is  said  to  command  a  singularly  fine  view  up  the 
Jed,  and  up  and  down  the  Teviot.  When  you  reach  my  brother's 
you  must  go  over  to  Dryburgh  Abbey,  and  up  to  the  colossal 
statue  of  Wallace  ;  but  above  all  to  Auld  Meuross.  I  feel  some 
apprehension  of  difficulty  in  getting  permission,  unless  Mr.  Elder, 
our  worthy  minister  at  Newtown,  attend  you.  You  should  go 
down  into  the  Haugh  about  five  or  six  in  the  afternoon,  when 
the  sun  .shines  over,  and  leaves  Gledswood  Bank  in  impressive 
shade.  It  must  be  a  sunshiny  evening  to  see  it  to  advantage. 
Inquire  for  Holywell  and  Halydean  Mill,  the  habitation  up  in 
the  Gate  Heugh,  scaur  of  the  fox  and  the  hawk.  Go  into  the 
summer-house,  and  mark  in  how  many  directions  you  see  the 
river.  Look  up  the  river  from  the  back  of  Colonel  Lockhart's 
house  towards  Dry  grange  Bridge.  Go  to  Drygrange  Bridge,  and, 
with  the  sun  at  your  back  at  five  o'clock,  look  down  to  Auld  Meu- 
ross, and  along  the  banks  of  the  Tweed.  Leave  the  scene  in  an 
hour,  if  you  can.  Go  to  Melrose;  the  guide  will  show  you  all: 
you  see  the  place  where  Michael  Scott  lay,  where  the  banners 
waved  without  the  wind ;  and  go  over  Melrose  Bridge,  and  come 
east  on  the  north  side  by  Gattonside,  till  you  come  back  to  Dry- 
grange  Bridge.  Cross  the  Leader — pass  through  Redpath — go 
north   by   Cowdenknowes — see    Sir    Thomas    Learmont's   tower, 

1  Thomas  the  Rhymer's.'     Call  on  Mrs. and  on  Dr. — , 

and  ask  him  for  a  line  of  introduction  to  Joseph  Hume,  Esq.,  of 
Carrolside,  to  see  Carrolside.     But  I  am  interrupted." 

"  Salisbury  Place,  July  lltli,  1822. 

"  You  would  be  gratified  at  seeing  the  exemplary  kindness  of 
my  good  folk  in  Wells  Street,  on  the  7th  inst.,  to  the  poor  Irish. 
It  amounts  now  to  £76,  and  as  many  bundles  of  clothes  as  the 
upper  vestry  closet  can  well  hold.  O !  how  thankful  should  we 
be  who  have  bread  enough  and  to  spare  ;  and  that  God  makes  his 
redeemed  people  able  and  willing  to  offer  after  this  sort.  But  let 
us  ever  remember,  that  it  is  of  his  own  only  we  give  him,  and 
that  our  most  liberal  gifts  are  but  a  peppercorn  of  acknowledg- 
ment for  blessings  above  all  calculation  great." 


326  LETTERS    TO    HIS     DAUGHTERS. 

"  Salisbury  Place,  Feb.  24,  1825. 

"  I  have  been  unwell  for  this  fortnight,  and  was  confined  to 
the  house  on  Sabbath.  I  was  fearful  that  word  might  wander 
down  to  you,  and  gather  magnitude  in  its  progress,  to  alarm  you 

and  your   brother;  and   therefore,  when  — was  with  us,  I 

dictated  a  long  scrawl,  some  parts  towards  the  close  barely  grave 
enough  for  an  old  man  confined  to  the  house  by  indisposition ; 
but  I  did  it  of  design,  to  convince  you  that  my  spirits  were  good, 
and  in  their  usually  elevated  tone,  when  I  got  west  to  Gordon, 

and  back  to  the  playful  scenes  of  my  youth.     I  fear  's 

gravity  will  be  hurt,  but  I  am  sure  his  worthy  father's  would  not. 

"  I  had  a  kind  letter  yesterday  from  the  good  Mr.  Wilberforce, 
informing  me  that  he  was  that  day  to  vacate  his  seat  in  parliament. 
How  much  I  owe,  for  these  thirty  years  past,  to  that  good  man. 
It  took  its  origin  in  the  piety  of  John  Ker,  and  has  continued,  on 
his  part,  in  a  course  of  uninterrupted  beneficence  to  this  day.  His 
Christianity  has  truly  been  the  religion  of  the  heart,  embodied  in  a 
life  of  active  goodness.  What  a  character  will  his  be,  when  ex- 
hibited in  its  native  beauty,  and  emblazoned  with  all  the  lustre  of 
unassumed  piety,  which  even  the  atmosphere  of  his  own  modesty 
could  not  conceal !  What  a  change  on  human  conduct  would  our 
holy  religion  produce,  were  men  but  to  surrender  their  hearts  to  its 
transforming  tendency  ! 

"  Friday  morning,  25th. — I  dislike  to  owe  trifles ;  do  there- 
fore put  Is.  2d.  into 's  hands,  the  postage  of  a  letter  I  owe 

him  on  the  business  of  the  poor  widow .     I  am  working  for 

your  uncle  on  the  late  Mr.  Wilson's  business;  and  after  pointing 
out  to  your  dear  sister  some  of  the  beauties  of  the  15th  of  Romans, 
which  she  has  read  in  our  worship,  I  sit  down  to  scrawl  a  few 
thoughts,  as  they  may  arise,  to  you.  In  the  first  place,  are  you 
making  good  progress  in  your  French  ?  Can  you  hold  half  an 
hour's  conversation  with  your  pundit  ?  In  the  second  place,  I 
hope  you  are  daily  refreshing  your  soul  with  the  heavenly 
waters  of  Dunblane* — that  is  a  spa  of  celestial  origin,  and  its 
waters  purify  and  invigorate  decayed  constitutions.  In  the  third 
place,  have  you  Colonel  Blackadder's  Diary,  by  Crichton  ?  It  is 
not  a  lady's  book,  I  know ;  but  it  would  gladden  the  heart  and 

soul  of  my  old  and  worthy  friend ,  to  read  such  a  blessed 

union  of  piety,  courage,  and  patriotism.     Be   sure  to  prevail  on 

to  get  one ;  and  if  he  suffer  himself  to  be  diverted  from 

*  Bishop  Leighton. 


LETTERS    TO    HIS     DAUGHTERS.  327 

the  perusal,  though  all  the  wort  should  boil  over  the  pot,  and 
the  swine  run  through  the  mash,  lie  is  not  the  man  I  take  him 

to  be.      Our   friend is  gathering  materials  for  a  history 

of  that  ungratefully  and  basely  used  body  of  men,  the  Cove- 
nanters. Had  Charles  Fox  lived  to  carry  on  his  History  of  the 
Revolution,  he  would  have  set  their  worth  in  a  fair  and  just 
light.  The  fragment  that  he  published  awakened  such  a  desire 
in  London  for  the  Cloud  of  Witnesses,  Wodrow's  History,  the 
Hind  let  Loose,  Peden's  Life,  and  CargilPs,  that  there  was  not 
a  copy  to  be  found  in  either  shop  or  stall ;  though,  at  Mr.  Wil- 
bcrforce's  request,  I  employed  Mr.  Murray  to  ransack  every 
hole  and  box  for  them.  It  is  easy  for  literary  dandies,  sitting  at 
their  case,  to  hold  up  to  the  laugh  of  ignorance  the  caricatured 
features  of  men  whom  oppression  drove  to  madness ;  but  a  single 
glance  of  whose  eye — the  eye  of  Burley,  infuriated  with  manly 
indignation — would  have  annihilated  the  thing  in  a  moment.  It 
is  really  a  grievous  and  vexing  concern,  to  see  the  best  blood  of 
our  country  thus  degraded  and  reproached,  and  the  soundest  piety 
covered  with  the  mantle  of  hypocrisy  and  rebellion.  Now  I  have 
got  my  breath  out,  and  am  done. 

****** 

"  Your  letter,  descriptive  of  your  treat  at  Edinburgh,  in  hearing 
Dr.  Chalmers  preach,  pleased,  and  I  hope  edified  us  too.  It  was 
not  the  earthen  vessel,  I  am  sure,  though  composed  of  no  common 
clay,  that  delighted  you,  with  all  the  figures  of  rhetoric  with 
which  its  exterior  was  decorated,  but  the  golden  treasure  it  con- 
tained. It  is  a  great  comfort  to  ordinary  folk  who  go  into  pulpits, 
that  the  people  must  look  to  the  treasure,  if  they  would  gain  either 
pleasure  or  profit,  as  there  is  little  temptation  to  look  to  the  crazed 
and  cracked  vessel  that  contains  it ;  though  the  enslaved  state  of 
our  minds  to  public  opinion  induces  us  to  make  the  earthenware  as 
fine  and  gaudy  as  we  can." 

"  Peckliam,  Jane  28,  1825. 
"I  left  your  dear  mother  yesterday  morning,  rather  com- 
plaining under  an  apprehension  of  a  visit  of  erysipelas  ;  but  I 
hope  the  holy  St.  Anthony,  should  the  disease  actually  pay  its 
threatened  visit,  will  check  its  progress,  and  secure,  at  a  time 
when  it  is  much  needed,  some  little  credit  to  mother  church. 
You  see,  by  the  date,  that  I  am  under  the  hospitable  roof  of  our 
beloved  friends,  to  whose  worth  you  arc  no  stranger.     We  ex- 


328  LETTERS    TO     HIS     DAUGHTERS. 

pect  a  great  spiritual  treat  to-morrow.  Do  not  tell  Mr.  B.,  or  he 
will  find  the  truth  of  that  Scripture,  '  the  spirit  that  dwelleth  in  us 
lusteth  to  envy.'  I  am  to  enjoy  the  sacred  ministrations  of  the 
great  and  good  Robert  Hall,  at  the  opening  of  the  anti-psedobaptist 
chapel,  at  the  end  of  Denmark  Row. 

i;  Our  communion  is  on  Sabbath,  when  we  expect  the  assistance 
of  Dr.  Jamieson  (who  to-morrow  will  have  the  honor  of  laying 
the  Appendix  of  his  Scottish  Dictionary  at  the  foot  of  the  throne), 
Mr.  Young,  Mr.  Gillon,  besides  Mr.  Broadfoot,  on  the  fast  evening ; 
but  we  hope  for  assistance  from  One  worth  them  all  a  thousand 
times  told.  We  have  been  anxiously  looking,  since  the  wind 
shifted,  for  the  arrival  of  our  dear  wandering  children  from  Madeira ; 
and  hope,  that  by  the  will  of  God  a  prosperous  journey  has  been 
given  them,  and  we  anticipate  the  delight  which  their  parental 
hearts  will  receive  on  meeting  their  beloved  children  in  high  health 
and  spirits. 

"  At  length  the  Sermons  are  printed.  The  paper  and  print  are 
beautiful,  but  the  volume  is  not  so  large  as  I  expected.  We  could 
not  express  our  gratitude  to  our  dear  friends  the  subscribers,  by 
publishing  their  names,  as  we  had  not  gotten  the  returns  from 
Scotland,  and  were  afraid  lest  any  in  consequence  should  think 
themselves  neglected.  We  have  only  now  to  lift  up  our  eyes  to 
Heaven,  that  God  may  be  graciously  pleased  to  accept  the  obla- 
tion which  we  lay  upon  his  altar,  and  make  the  perusal  of  the 
pages  subservient,  in  some  small  degree,  to  the  best  interests  of 
our  numerous  and  kind  friends. 

"  Thomas  and  William's  boys  are  come  home ;  and  I  ex- 
pect a  general  assembly  of  juveniles  at  Salisbury  Place  on  Thurs- 
day. 

"  I  was  pleading  the  cause  of  the  Scotch  Missionary  Society, 
in  Keppel  Street,  on  Sabbath  morning ;  and  the  good  people  gave 
me  £17,  and  with  so  much  grace  and  good-will,  as  made  it 
worth  more  than  seven  times  the  value.  Bid  Mr.  Balmer  tell 
the  Presbytery  that  I  have  got  more  than  £90  for  that  institu- 
tion since  the  deputation  left  us,  and  have  two  fields  yet  to  reap  ; 
and  that  I  hope  our  friends  on  the  south  side  of  Lammermuir 
Hills  will  open  their  arms  to  receive  our  deputation,  which  will  be 
with  him  soon.  Bid  him  add,  that  nothing  in  my  power  shall 
be  wanting  to  strengthen  and  give  perpetuity  to  the  union  of  the 
two  ends  of  the  island  in  the  sacred  cause.  If  my  health  would 
admit  of  it,  old  and  feeble  as  I    am.  I  would  set  off  to  Ihe  land  of 


LETTERS    TO     HIS    DAUGHTERS.  320 

my  fathers,  and  clap  the  rowel  in  the  side  of  every  holy  man  to 
whom  I  should  have  access. 

"  I  have  the  prospect  of  spending  the  week  after  next  at  Wind- 
sor; and  if  I  could  get  even  minor  prophets  to  supply  my  pulpit, 
I  would  lengthen  out  my  stay  to  a  fortnight ;  but  at  this  season, 
every  man  and  mother's  son  who  hangs  a  bit  of  cambric  about  his 
neck,  and  can  spare  ten  sovereigns,  is  away  to  the  seaside,  and  the 
town  becomes  sadly  impoverished. 

"  Now,  when  a  man  has  no  more  to  say,  he  usually  concludes  ; 
and  I  have  only  to  add,  what  you  already  very  well  know,  that 
with  tender  sympathy  to  your  dear  brother,  fervent  prayers  for 
his  recovery,  and  affectionate  regards  to  yourself,  I  ever  am  your 
most  faithful  friend  and  father. 

"  P.  S.  July  1. — A  divine  sermon  from  Mr.  Hall  on  the  evidence 
of  Christianity  from  the  miracles  of  its  Author  and  his  Apostles  ; 
collection  £200.  I  got  £50  at  the  fag  end  of  the  day.  I  am  not 
surprised  at  your  worthy  minister's  attachment  to  that  great  and 
good  man.  It  is  only  once  in  a  hundred  years  that  Providence 
sends  down  such  men  to  our  dark  and  dead  world. — I  am  long- 
ing to  hear  from  you.  Honey  squeezed  from  the  comb  is  not  the 
sweetest." 

"July  8,  1825. 
"  The  sad  anniversary  of  Alexander's  departure  draws  near. 
The  day  of  my  departure  also  draws  near.  May  I  be  enabled, 
by  the  aid  of  God's  good  Spirit,  to  exemplify  the  trust,  the  forti- 
tude, the  heavenly  hope,  which  dignified,  enlightened,  and  cheer- 
ed the  dark  period  of  his  long  and  severe  suffering !  I  feel 
my  animal  spirits  often  sinking  under  bodily  debility,  and  the  ani- 
mal frame  insensibly  throws  its  influence  over  the  mind.  Happy 
for  us  when  we  can  live  by  faith  on  something  out  of  ourselves, — 
the  finished  work  of  Christ,  and  the  sure  promises  of  God. 
Frames  vary  and  change,  but  the  foundation  of  the  hope  of  a  sink- 
ing world  remains  immovable  and  sure ;  on  this  foundation  let  us 
build,  in  the  calmest  and  gravest  exercise  of  our  minds,  our  entire 
confidence,  and  leave  the  disposal  of  life  and  death  to  our  Father 
and  our  God." 

"  Windsor,  July  12,  1825. 
"  My  Dear  Daughter, — John,  T  hope,  has  given  you  a  suitable 
castigation,  according  to  the  solemn  charge  I  gave  him  in  my  last, 


330  LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS. 

for  the  very  sinful  frame  of  your  mind,  which  led  you  to  the 
exercise  of  surprise  on  account  of  the  frequency  of  my  letters  to 
you.     In  the  faith  of  this,  I  will  accept  of  the  atonement  you  have 

made,  and  proceed  to  employ  half  an  hour  before  Mrs.  

takes  me  in  her  chaise  to  visit  the  oaks  and  deer  of  the  imperial 
forest. 

"  In  the  first  place,  then.  I  left  your  dear  mother  yesterday  morn- 
ing in  good  health.  She  was  glad  to  get  quit  of  me,  as  she  expects 
the  whitewashes  to  purify  and  adorn  the  house ;  and,  on  such 
occasions,  I  find  that  I  am  always  in  the  way. 

"  In  the  second  place,  I  arrived  at  this  hospitable  house  last 
night ;  and  though  death  has  taken  away  from  the  family,  since 
I  was  last  here,  two  sisters  in  England,  and  a  brother  in  India, 
and  the  family  have  been  awfully  alarmed  by  fire,  from  which 
their  dear  children  were  almost  miraculously  preserved,  yet  their 
minds  are  wonderfully  composed,  and  really  cheerful.  They 
cherish  just  views  of  the  holiness,  the  sovereignty,  the  goodness 
and  wisdom  of  God's  covenanted  providence,  and  these  views  tran- 
quillize their  pious  minds.  When  I  arrived,  I  found  it  was  the 
prayer-meeting  night ;  and  after  tea  I  accompanied  the  family  to 
the  chapel,  when  Mr.  R.,  in  his  usual  tone  of  Windsor  Episcopal 
authority,  forced  me,  with  all  my  fatigue  and  confusion  upon  my 
head,  into  the  desk.  But  he  is  so  good,  and  has  been  so  kind  a 
man,  that  I  could  not  refuse.  I  expect  to  have  the  gratification  of 
preaching  for  him  on  Thursday  evening. 

u  In  the  third  place,  you  will  see  by  the  steadiness  of  my  writing 
how  much  the  air  of  Windsor  has  already  improved  my  nerves  ;  and 
there  are  few  places,  in  England,  at  least,  of  which  the  wild  and 
classical  witchery  enlivens  so  much  my  animal  spirits  as  this,  though 
death  has  caused  many  a  blank,  both  among  the  hospitable  friends 
who  resided  here  forty  years  ago,  and  among  the  ministers  who 
were  occasionally  my  associates  in  the  neighborhood.  The  good 
old  king,  also,  lies  in  darkness  and  silence  in  the  sepulchre  which 
he  had  prepared ;  and  more  precious  dust  monumental  marble 
never  enclosed. 

u  In  the  fourth  place,  my  blood  seems  to  be  in  a  very  depraved 
state ;  and  Dr.  Darling  thinks  that  two  months  at  Harrowgate 
Spa  would  lessen,  if  not  completely  remove  the  disorder.  As 
uncle  is  a  very  pleasant  man  to  travel  with,  and,  in  these  bad 
times,  a  very  convenient  treasurer ;  and  as  the  wraters  may  be  of  use 
to  him  and  your  aunt,  I  am  thinking  of  allowing  them,  and  your 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  331 

mother,  of  course,  as  my  nurse,  to  accompany  me.  He  does 
not,  however,  seem  to  relish  much  the  steamboat  to  Hull. 
We  may,  however,  give  up  that  luxury,  and  submit  to  travel  by 
land.  After  all,  we  are  only  talking  about  it  as  yet.  Your  bro- 
ther    is  speaking  of  visiting  France.      I  shall,  for  many 

reasons,  be  sorry  if  he  does,  as  France,  under  this  burning  sun, 
is  not  the  likeliest  place  for  invigorating  his  constitution;  and 
the  frivolities,  to  say  the  least,  of  French  manners,  I  think  can 
have  no  attractions  for  his  mind.  I  would  rather  he  followed  in 
your  route,  over  the  hills  and  on  the  lakes  of  our  beloved 
country. 

"  Now  I  hear  the  town  clock  announcing  high  noon,  and  I  must, 
like  a  faithful  and  honorable  squire,  attend  my  lady  on  her  air- 


The  following  letter  to  one  of  his  daughters  on  her  birth- 
day, shows  the  winning  mode  by  which  he  ever  strove  to  al- 
lure the  affections  of  his  children  to  "  blighter  worlds  :" — 

"  My  dear  Child, — Most  sincerely  do  I  bless  God,  and  con- 
gratulate you  on  his  fatherly  care  of  you  till  you  have  seen 
two-and-twenty  opening  springs.  While  growing  years  bring 
materials  of  devout  gratitude  to  your  heart,  I  trust  they  will  see 
that  heart  keeping  pace  in  every  lovely  and  pious  temper.  In 
order  to  this,  plead  the  promises  of  religious  growth,  Isaiah  xliv. 
3-6;  Hosea  xiv.  5-8;  Zech.  x.  12;  John  xv.  2;  Phil.  i.  6, 
Keep  thy  heart  with  all  diligence,  for  out  of  it  arc  the  issues  of 
life.  Leave  the  things  that  are  behind,  and  urge  your  way  onward 
to  higher  measures  of  knowledge,  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  love  to  his 
laws,  and  hope  in  his  mercy.  Beware  of  declension,  especially  in 
the  unseen  exercises  of  religion,  and  of  everything  that  leads  to 
indifference  about  vital  Christianity. 

"  You  must  not  measure  the  amount  of  my  unvarying  con- 
cern for  your  happiness  by  either  the  frequency  or  the  length  of 
my  letters  to  you.  These  often  depend  on  things  over  which  I 
have  no  power.  Continue  to  furnish  your  mind  with  useful 
knowledge,  and  look  up  to  God  to  beautify  that  furniture  with 
the  graces  of  true  piety  and  christian  morals  ;  and  you  will  till 
a  large  portion,  and  an  elevated  one,  of  my  heart.  These  are  the 
true  excellencies  of  our  nature,  and  will  retain  their  worth  when 
form  and  fortune  leave  that  nature.     I  take  you  to  my  bosom, 


332  HABITS    OF    PUNCTUALITY. 

and,  looking  up  to  Heaven,  implore  its  richest  blessings  on  you, 
equally  as  on  the  head  and  heart  of,  my  beloved  child,"  your  affec- 
tionate father." 


Dr.  Waugh  lived  to  see  his  sons  fixed  in  respectable  stations 
in  the  world  ;  and  it  had  been  his  object,  in  preparing  them 
for  eternity,  to  qualify  them  also  for  honorable  and  useful 
conduct  in  the  affairs  of  this  life.  He  inculcated  that  fear  of 
God,  that  justice  and  benevolence,  which  are  the  best  security 
for  the  rights  and  for  the  happiness  of  social  life  ;  and  taught 
them  to  be  frugal,  not  mean ;  prudent,  not  subtle  ;  complai- 
sant, not  servile ;  and  active  in  business,  but  not  its  slaves. 
There  were  four  habits  which  he  recommended  earnestly  in 
his  counsels,  and  by  his  own  example,  and  which  he  stated 
to  be  essentially  necessary  to  the  happy  management  of  tem- 
poral concerns  :  these  were,  punctuality,  accuracy,  steadiness, 
and  despatch.  Without  the  first,  time  is  wasted,  those  who 
relied  on  us  are  irritated  and  disappointed,  and  nothing  is 
done  in  its  proper  time  and  place ;  without  the  second,  mis- 
takes the  most  hurtful  to  our  own  credit  and  interest,  or  that 
of  others,  may  be  committed ;  without  the  third,  nothing  can 
be  well  done  ;  and  without  the  fourth,  opportunities  of  ad- 
vantage are  lost  which  it  is  impossible  to  recall.  Such  were 
his  own  habits,  in  so  eminent  a  degree,  that  his  cash-book, 
from  the  date  of  his  settlement  in  London  to  the  day  of  his 
death,  is  in  existence,  and  exhibits  every  item  of  expense  he 
incurred,  and  every  sum  he  received.  In  the  book  in  which 
he  recorded  the  texts  from  which  he  had  preached,  and  the 
place  of  preaching,  he  had  inserted,  on  the  morning  of  the 
clay  on  which  he  was  taken  ill,  the  last  text  he  discoursed 
from.  Every  object  that  claimed  his  attention  through  the 
day,  was  noted  down  in  his  memorandum-book  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  the  time  specified  when  it  was  to  be  done ;  thus 
illustrating  the  maxim  he  acted  on,  "  Never  to  leave  till 
to-morrow  what  should  be  done  to-day."  He  kept  a  letter- 
book,  in  which  he  inscribed  an  abstract  of  every  letter  of  im- 
portance that  he  wrote ;  and,  when  the  extent  of  his  corres- 


HIS    SOX    ALEXANDER.  333 

pondence  is  considered,  the  labor  in  keeping  up  his  letter-book 
mny  be  understood.  So  regular  and  punctual  was  he  in  keep- 
ing the  accounts  he  had  with  his  different  executorial  trusts, 
and  various  societies,  that  he  left  nothing  to  be  done  by  his 
executors  in  this  department  of  their  duties :  every  paper  and 
voucher  was  endorsed,  and  in  its  proper  place. 

His  son  Alexander,  whose  heart  was  directed  to  his  own 
profession,  was  the  object  of  his  peculiar  solicitude.  His  mind, 
naturally  acute  and  vigorous,  was  enriched  by  the  culture  of  a 
very  liberal  education ;  and  his  taste,  exquisitely  alive  to  the 
graces  of  literature,  was  formed  and  guided  by  the  study  of 
the  best  models  of  composition.  While  a  father's  heart  could 
not  but  be  gratified  by  the  fine  talents  of  so  accomplished  a 
son,  and  anticipate  many  pleasing  results  from  so  bright  a 
promise  of  youthful  genius,  his  chief  anxiety  was  pointed  to 
the  formation  of  the  image  of  Christ  in  his  heart  and  charac- 
ter ;  and  his  solicitude  was  amply  rewarded.  This  highly- 
gifted  youth  was  distinguished  by  true  elevation  of  thought, 
and  by  a  habit  of  close  and  vigorous  mental  application.  His 
appearances  as  a  preacher  were  hailed  in  Scotland  by  a  popu- 
larity which  could  in  no  respect  be  attributed  to  any  singularity 
in  his  notions,  or  any  extravagance  in  his  manner;  for  his 
doctrine  was  pure,  solid,  and  practical,  and  his  eloquence  was 
that  of  power  beautifully  combined  with  elegance  and  so- 
lemnity :  it  was  the  just  tribute  paid  to  high  talent.  By  a 
mysterious  dispensation,  soon  after  his  ordination  in  London 
(an  event  much  wished  by  his  father,  as  likely  to  yield  him 
solace  and  aid  in  the  decline  of  life,  and  to  advance  the  inter- 
ests of  religion  in  that  vast  circle),  he  was,  through  bodily 
indisposition,  rendered  unfit  for  all  public  duty  ;  and,  after 
more  than  a  year  of  suffering,  through  which  he  passed  with 
all  the  firmness  and  calmness  of  a  great  and  pious  mind,  he 
sunk  into  an  early  grave.  A  volume,  containing  some  of  his 
Sermons  and  Sacramental  Addresses,  was  published  soon  after 
his  death,  prefaced  by  a  memoir  written  by  his  father,  in  which, 
with  great  beauty  and  tenderness,  he  delineates  the  character, 
and  embalms  the  memory,  of  his  sou.     His  death  was  the  first 


334  HIS    SON    ALEXANDER. 

visit  of  mortality  to  his  family ;  and  it  was  obvious  to  all  the 
friends  of  Dr.  Watigh,  that,  amidst  the  cheerful  activity  he  still 
labored  to  exercise,  the  impression  was  seldom  from  his 
thoughts — "  The  graves  are  ready  for  me,  and  our  rest  together 
shall  be  in  the  dust." 

On  the  Sabbath  following  the  death  of  his  son,  and  while 
his  body  was  still  unburied,  Dr.  Waugh,  notwithstanding  the 
kind  entreaties  of  his  family  to  spare  himself  an  exertion  for 
which  the  shock  seemed  to  have  unfitted  him,  preached  to  his 
own  people  from  Luke  xxiii.  50-50.  The  opening  sentence 
of  that  discourse  furnishes  us  with  the  motives  that  induced 
him,  aged  and  frail  as  he  then  was,  to  appear  in  his  pulpit 
on  such  an  occasion,  and  to  deny  himself  the  undue  indul- 
gence of  a  grief  that  might  have  pointed  for  its  apology  to  the 
dead  body  of  a  son  so  beloved  and  so  promising,  but  could 
not  find  its  antidote  there  :  "  The  sanctuary  of  God  is  the 
place  where  true  consolation  is  to  be  found.  Under  this  feel- 
ing, I  have  deemed  it  my  duty  to  appear  before  you,  my 
beloved  friends,  this  morning."  And  in  the  following  closing 
paragraph  will  be  seen  the  source  whence  emanated  the  hopes 
by  which  his  trembling  mind  was  supported  :  "  Let  not  sin- 
cere Christians  shudder  at  the  grave  as  their  last  abode. 
Christ  lay  there  as  on  a  couch  that  divine  love  had  provided 
for  his  rest  after  his  toils,  and  before  he  took  his  journey  to 
heaven.  Then  say  with  David,  '  Yea,  though  I  walk  through 
the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  I  will  fear  no  evil :  for 
Thou  ait  with  me  ;  thy  rod  and  thy  staff  they  comfort  me.' 
God  delivered  the  Saviour  from  the  grave.  He  will  re- 
lease us  too.  For  us,  too,  it  is  the  place  of  rest.  Thus 
the  bird,  on  wing  all  day,  cowers  down  at  night  in  the  brake, 
sleeps  soundly  till  the  dawn  appears,  then  up  and  wings  its 
way  to  the  sky.  Thus  shall  the  good  man  arise,  to  live  for 
evermore." 

There  are  various  letters  preserved,  which  he  wrote  to  this 
interesting  youth  in  the  course  of  his  preparatory  studies, 
fraught  with  the  most  valuable  sentiments  ;  but  we  shall 
limit  our  selection  to  such  passages  from  them  as  seem  best 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    HON'    ALEXANDER.  335 

fitted  for  being  generally  useful.     Amidst  all   the  affectionate 
solicitude  of  a  father,  it  is  delightful  to  trace,  in   the  following 

extracts,  the  holy  caution  of  the  man  of  God. 

"February  1G,  1811. 

"  Be  well  assured,  my  dear  son,  that  no  common  measure  of 
personal  religion  will  be  sufficient  to  fit  you  for  the  ministerial 
office.  An  unconverted  ministry  is  the  greatest  curse  with  which 
an  avenging  Providence  can  visit  the  churches.  Oh  !  be  deeply 
concerned,  therefore,  in  the  first  place,  about  your  own  personal 
salvation.  Surrender  your  understanding  to  the  Son  of  God,  to  be 
enlightened  by  his  word ;  and  remember,  that  saving  knowledge 
sanctifies  the  heart.  An  orthodox  head  and  a  depraved  heart  is  the 
very  image  of  the  devil.  Surrender,  also,  your  will  to  be  entirely 
regulated  by  the  will  of  God;  yield  implicit  submission  to  the  di- 
vine laws,  and  cordially  acquiesce  in  all  the  arrangements  of  the 
divine  government.  Live  near  to  God,  by  ever  remembering  that 
he  is  by  you  day  and  night,  alone  and  in  company,  and  that  his 
eyes  ever  rest  upon  you. 

"  Read  with  much  care  Orton's  Life  of  Doddridge,  in  which 
you  will  see  a  combination  of  mental  application  on  the  oug 
hand,  and  of  progress  in  piety  and  goodness  on  the  other,  which 
is  the  great  constituent  of  a  christian  student.  Halyburton's 
life,  especially  when  at  college,  contains  also  much  serious  and 
useful  matter.  Without  practical  piety  and  purity  of  heart, 
there  is  no  moral  worth  in  any  character.  The  perfect  model  of 
human  conduct  was  a  composition  of  the  purest  love  to  God  and 
man  ;  and  you  know  that  we  are  Christians  just  in  proportion  to 
our  conformity  to  that  exemplar.  Sot  him  ever  before  you.  and 
imitate  his  lovely  virtues  to  the  utmost  of  your  power.  Study 
to  breathe  his  peculiar  spirit,  and  fix  the  point  of  excellence  in 
being  like  him.  This  will  make  you  amiable  in  the  sight  of  God 
and  of  all  good  men. 

"  I  am  much  pleased  with  your  diligence  in  hastening  forward 
to  Glasgow,  that  you  may  avail  yourself  of  every  hour  in  the 
college.  I  fear  you  will  sadly  feel  the  want  of  short-hand  while 
you  sit  by  the  stream  of  knowledge,  and  are  able  to  retain  so  small 
a  measure  of  its  waters.  Rut  it  is  not  too  late  yet  to  acquire  the 
art. 

"  In  entering  on  life,  it  is  of  the  last  importance  that  a  proper 
direction  be  given  to  our  mind ;  for  as  the  twig  is  bent,  the  tree 


336  LETTERS    TO    HIS    SON    ALEXANDER. 

will  be  inclined.  Connect  all  your  pursuits  with  immortality, 
and  consider  the  bearing  of  every  action  on  futurity.  Set  the  Lord 
ever  before  you,  and  that  will  make  your  deportment  steady. 
Show  kindness  to  inferiors,  and  deference  to  those  above  you. 
Farewell  for  the  present.  May  the  Father  of  mercies  guide, 
guard,  and  support  you !  Write  me  frequently,  and  long  letters. 
Try  to  bring  your  style  of  letter-writing  as  near  to  the  style  of 
conversation  as  possible." 

"London,  Nov.  10,  1812. 

"  Your  letter  of  the  3d  instant  supplied  to  our  minds  additional 
grounds  of  thanksgiving  for  the  care  of  Providence  in  bringing  you 
in  safety  to  the  end  of  your  journey.  Let  every  instance  of  God's 
preserving  mercy  awaken  your  gratitude,  and  strengthen  your 
confidence  in  his  fatherly  government. 

"  I  have  no  doubt  of  your  assiduity  in  your  classical  and  philo- 
sophical pursuits.  You  know  my  concern  in  regard  to  your  pro- 
ficiency in  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages,  as  the  key  to  the 
treasures  of  heathen  wisdom  and  of  christian  knowledge,  especially 
in  the  works  of  the  early  writers  of  the  Eastern  Church,  which  are 
little  known  by  ministers  in  general.  Mathematics  will  form  the 
habit  of  close  reasoning,  and  save  you  from  the  errors  to  which  the 
excursions  of  unbridled  imagination  ever  expose  our  judgments. 
But,  above  all  pursuits,  mind,  my  dear  Alexander,  that  the  furniture 
of  the  heart  is  the  great  endowment.  Before  the  great  Preacher 
of  righteousness  opened  his  commission,  his  Father  furnished  his 
mind  with  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding,  of  knowledge, 
and  of  the  fear  of  the  Lord.  Look  up  to  the  same  source.  Cry 
mightily  to  God,  that  he  may  baptize  your  opening  faculties  with 
large  measures  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  your  heart  may  feel  deeply 
its  obligations  to  redeeming  love,  that  the  most  tender  compassion 
may  be  created  in  your  bosom  for  perishing  souls,  and  a  readiness 
to  consecrate  all  your  powers,  and  every  degree  of  culture  they 
may  require,  to  the  advancement  of  the  Redeemer's  glory  in  the 
salvation  of  men. 

"In  regard  to  the  peculiarities  of  your  Professor  of  Moral 
Philosophy,  as  I  myself  am  a  disciple  of  Reid  and  Beattie,  and 
have  never  seen  reason  to  alter  my  views,  it  will  not  be  sup- 
posed that  I  should  be  fond  of  novelties,  whatever  mental  energy 
they  are  supposed  to  discover.  I  have  long  been  the  friend  of 
common  sense,  and  wish  to  die  in  habits  of  attachment  to  my 
old  friends. 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    SON    ALEXANDER.  33*7 

u  Your  concern  about  economy  in  your  support  is  very  com- 
mendable. The  habit  will  be  of  great  advantage,  and  will  prob- 
ably be  found  absolutely  necessary  in  your  future  life.  The 
prospects  of  a  Seceding  minister  require  high  measures  of  spirit- 
uality of  mind,  and  of  all  the  virtues  connected  with  limited  and 
precarious  income.  But  you  would  greatly  err,  my  dear  son,  if 
you  should  conceive  that  these  hints  betrayed  a  grudging  frame  of 
mind  towards  you,  or  the  most  distant  suspicion  of  inattention  on 
your  part  to  avail  yourself  of  all  the  means  of  co-operation  in  your 
power. 

"  I  have  been  absent  for  three  months  on  a  missionary  tour. 
The  time  is  not  favorable  for  making  collections ;  but  He,  at 
whose  girdle  hangs  the  key  that  opens  human  hearts,  was  gra- 
ciously pleased  to  open  the  hearts  of  the  churches  I  visited,  in  such 
measure,  as  to  enable  me  to  collect  the  sum  of  £853:11:11. 
I  ought,  with  unfeigned  gratitude,  to  record  the  good  and  guardian 
care  of  Providence,  and  to  invite  those  to  whom  my  life  is  an  object, 
to  unite  with  me  in  the  record." 

The  following  extracts  are  from  letters  to  his  son  after  he 
had  entered  on  the  study  of  theology  : — 

"  You  will  now  enter  on  a  new  field  of  mental  exercise.  Under 
the  tuition  of  such  a  master,  and  by  the  divine  blessing  on  your 
diligence,  I  hope  your  profiting  will  appear  to  all.  It  will  often 
occur  to  your  mind,  and  often  be  suggested  to  you  by  your 
pious  teacher,  that  theology,  as  a  science,  must  be  studied  with 
a  very  different  frame  of  heart  from  that  with  which  other 
sciences  are  studied.  Its  sacred  nature,  and  our  interest  in  its 
truth  and  importance,  demand  peculiar  gravity  of  mind,  much 
prayer  to  God,  and  constant  dependence  on  the  aid  of  his  prom- 
ised Spirit.  The  closest  attention  to  the  state  of  your  own 
heart,  and  to  the  progress  of  religious  principle  and  feeling  there, 
is  indispensably  necessary.  Follow  out  these  hints,  and  be  well 
assured  that  I  shall  not  cease  to  bear  you  on  my  heart  before 
the  throne  of  God,  and  to  implore  the  divine  communication  of 
all  needful  grace  to  your  soul.  Read  over  and  over  good  old  Mr. 
Brown's  Address  to  Students,  at  the  beginning  of  his  System, 
and  apply  to  your  own  soul  the  deep  and  impressive  sentiments 
which  you  will  find  there.  Watch  over  your  thoughts,  desires, 
and  diversions,  when  alone.     Hie   kingdom  of  God   is  within  us. 

\  .1  man  thinketh.  90  1  !>•  .'  God  weighs  oui  thoughts,  and  nice 
15 


338  LETTERS    TO    HIS    SON    ALEXANDER. 

is  the  balance  in  which  thoughts  are  weighed.  David  speaks  of 
remembering  God  on  his  bed,  and  of  his  soul  following  hard 
after  God. 

"  Be  assured  that  there  is  no  matter,  short  of  your  own  salva- 
tion, in  which  more  deep  reflection  and  searching  of  your  heart 
is  necessary,  than  in  your  present  object.  I  would  rather  see 
you,  my  dear  son,  a  faithful  and  holy  minister  of  the  blessed 
Gospel,  than  lolling  in  a  carriage  with  a  ducal  star  on  your 
side ;  but  I  tremble  at  the  thought  of  your  entering  into  the 
office  lightly,  and  without  much  consideration  and  prayer  to  God 
for  aid  and  direction.  I  do  not  wish  to  discourage  you  (far,  far 
from  it)  ;  but  I  wish  you  solemnly  to  view  the  measure  in  all 
its  bearings.  Ask  your  own  heart  what  are  the  motives  which 
incline  you.  Are  they  love  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  bore 
our  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree,  and  a  tender  concern  for 
souls  perishing  around  you  in  guilt  and  pollution, — a  desire  to 
employ  your  faculties  in  the  way  in  which  God  will  be  most 
honored  ? — or  is  your  heart  captivated  with  the  credit  which 
good  men  usually  attach  to  the  office,  with  the  prospect  of  an 
easy  life,  and  the  hope  of  being  soon  settled  in  the  world,  or  any 
similar  object  ?  If  so,  all  is  wrong.  You  had  better  beg  your 
bread  from  door  to  door,  than  enter  into  the  ministry  in  such  a 
frame  of  mind.  Pray  that  you  may  see  yourself  in  the  light  in 
which  God  sees  you.  In  the  Secession  there  is  absolute  need  of 
great  self-denial,  patience  under  trials,  and  humility.  Nothing 
but  ardent  love  to  Christ,  and  compassion  for  souls,  will  recon- 
cile the  mind  to  the  privations,  the  insult,  and  opposition  to  be 
met  with  in  the  ministry.  These  words  seem  to  be  inscribed  on 
the  doors  of  our  divinity  schools,  'If  any  man  will  come  after 
me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his  cross  daily,  and  follow 
me.' 

"  Pay  considerable  attention  to  composition.  Facility  in  put- 
ting your  thoughts  together,  and  conveying  them  in  words  simple, 
expressive,  and  harmonious,  is  an  acquisition  of  great  moment, 
especially  to  a  divine.  The  more  of  ease  in  the  manner,  and  the 
more  of  the  sentiment  and  language  of  Scripture  in  the  matter 
of  discourses,  so  much  the  more  likely  are  they  to  please  persons 
of  good  taste,  and  to  benefit  the  poor.  Mr.  Robert  Walker  of 
Edinburgh's  Sermons  are  perhaps  the  best  models  in  our  lan- 
guage. Texts  of  Scripture  are  the  bones  and  marrow  of  sermons, 
and  when  happily  introduced,  they  form  the  best  charm  of  com- 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    SON    ALEXANDER.  339 

position.  The  connection  of  the  church  with  any  form  of  polit- 
ical government,  is  a  difficult  question  ;  but  it  appears  to  me, 
that,  in  the  present  imperfect  state  of  our  nature,  the  counte- 
nance of  a  christian  government  seems  not  at  variance  with  the 
Bible,  and  is,  on  many  accounts,  desirable.  The  countenance  I 
plead  for  is  associated  with  a  sacred  regard  to  the  right  of  private 
judgment  in  all  things. 

"  Your  inquiry  into  the  truth  and  excellencies  of  our  holy  re- 
ligion, is  the  most  awfully  important  exercise  of  your  mind  in 
the  present  world.  Implore  light  from  on  high  ere  you  enter 
upon  it.  Prosecute  it  under  a  deep  impression  of  the  weakness 
and  fallibility  of  our  faculties,  and  with  the  reflection  that,  in  a 
great  and  progressive  plan,  such  as  divine  revelation  exhibits, 
there  must  be  found  many  difficulties  which  our  limited  facul- 
ties are  unable  to  remove  :  and  that  not  merely  the  credit  of 
your  discernment,  but  the  eternal  condition  of  the  mind,  is  con- 
nected with  the  result.  Read  Lord  Lyttleton  on  the  Conversion 
of  Paul,  West  on  the  Resurrection,  and  Campbell  on  Miracles; 
but,  above  all,  study  the  New  Testament  itself;  and  when  you 
have  contemplated  the  character  of  our  Lord,  and  of  Paul,  ask 
your  own  heart,  '  Is  it  possible  that  the  former  could  be  a  de- 
ceiver, and  the  latter  a  party  to  the  continuance  of  the  decep- 
tion ?'  The  result,  I  am  confident,  will  be  joy  in  God  your 
Saviour,  and  the  assurance  of  strong  and  affectionate  convic- 
tion." 

It  appears  that  his  son  had  some  doubts  in  his  own  mind 
as  to  the  mode  of  government  appointed  by  our  Lord  for  his 
church,  and  had  set  himself  to  a  careful  inquiry  into  the 
topic.  This  circumstance  is  creditable  to  his  candor  and 
conscientiousness,  and  shows  that,  instead  of  indulging  that 
tame  indolence  of  mind  which  takes  every  matter  on  trust, 
he  resolved  to  follow  only  the  conviction  of  his  own  under- 
standing. The  hints  his  father  gave  him  upon  this  subject, 
are  fresh  indications  of  his  honorable  principles. 

"Unless  you  see  in  the  New  Testament  the  outline  of  the 
Presbyterian  form  of  church  order,  in  the  parity  of  office  among 
ministers,  and  in  the  union  of  the  churches,  and  their  subordina- 
tion to  each  other  in  matters  not  of  faith,  but  of  external  regula- 


340  LETTERS    TO    HIS    SON    ALEXANDER. 

tion,  it  will  be  very  unsafe  for  you  to  come  forward  either  in  the 
Church  of  Scotland  or  in  the  Secession.  In  regard  to  the  Church 
of  England,  you  will  be  expected  to  express  your  assent  and 
consent  to  the  whole  system  of  the  doctrine  and  polity  of  that 
establishment.  It  is  said,  there  are  many  in  that  church  who 
believe  neither  her  Articles  nor  the  Scriptural  authority  of  her 
orders,  and  that  it  is  not  expected  a  young  man  should  trouble 
himself  with  nice  scruples  on  these  points.  But  subscription  is 
too  serious  and  awful  a  matter  to  be  trifled  with  ;  and  I  think 
too  favorably  of  your  moral  principles  to  conceive  it  needful  to 
dwell  on  the  ruinous  consequences  of  such  a  relax  system. 
Search  the  Scriptures  ;  consult  the  candid  and  upright  tutor 
whose  instructions  you  are  to  enjoy ;  let  your  eye  be  single :  and 
should  the  conclusion  to  which  your  inquiry  leads  you  be  different 
from  my  views,  I  shall  not  respect  you  the  less,  but  very  cheer- 
fully aid  and  assist  you  to  the  utmost  of  my  power.  The  concern 
the  nearest  to  my  heart  is,  that  your  present  inquiries,  and  the 
measures  you  may  adopt  in  consequence  of  them,  may  be  reviewed 
with  approbation,  when,  like  your  father,  you  look  back  from  the 
high  ground  of  three-score  years.  A  tender  conscience  is  an  in- 
estimable treasure. 

"  Be  assured  of  it,  that  if  you  enter  into  the  ministry  with  a 
good  conscience,  your  Father  in  heaven  will  supply  all  your 
wants.  I  myself  have  never  had  much ;  yet,  like  the  good 
Bishop  of  Cambray,  I  hope  to  die  poor,  but  out  of  debt.  Your 
father's  God,  if  you  lean  on  him,  will  never  leave  you  nor  forsake 
you. 

c:  The  infant  sons  of  your  two  elder  brothers  were  baptized  on 
Sabbath.  May  a  better  name  than  mine  be  named  on  them!  I 
feel  very  thankful  to  my  sons  for  the  honor  they  have  done  their 
father.  If  that  promise,  Isaiah  xliv.  3-5,  be  now  and  afterwards 
fulfilled,  all  is  well." 

In  another  letter,  he  gives  him  some  valuable  counsels  re- 
specting pray  or:  — 

"  I  think  it  would  be  proper  for  you  to  mark  down  the  differ- 
ent parts  of  prayer  as  heads,  and  then,  under  such  place,  some  of 
the  most  apposite  Scriptures  you  can  select.  Commit  them  to 
memory,  and  accustom  yourself  to  use  them  in  your  secret  de- 
votions.    There  ia  such  majesty  and  sweetness  in  the  language 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    SON    ALEXANDER.  341 

of  the  Bible,  as  is  not  to  be  expected  anywhere  else.  The  people 
understand  both  the  thoughts  and  the  language  better  than  any 
other.  The  use  of  what  are  calied  elegant  and  classical  expres- 
sions and  figures  in  prayers,  discovers  a  mind,  if  not  at  play  with 
its  subject,  certainly  not  deeply  impressed  with  the  awful  ma- 
jesty of  God,  and  the  guilt  and  depravity  of  the  heart  of  man. 
Were  I  dying,  I  should  not  approach  my  God  and  Saviour  in 
that  manner.  It  has  been  said,  and  with  too  much  truth,  that 
the  prayers  of  many  fashionable  dissenting  ministers  are  mere 
exhibitions  of  talent  on  the  part  of  the  minister,  and  subjects  of 
criticism  on  the  part  of  the  hearer.  Hence  you  hear  such  in- 
decorous observations  as  these :  '  What  an  elegant  prayer  !  what 
a  sublime,  philosophical  prayer  !'  There  never  was  a  finer  com- 
pliment paid  to  a  sermon  than  what  a  celebrated  infidel  paid, 
though  he  meant  it  not,  to  good  old  John  Brown, — '  That  old 
man  preaches  as  if  Jesus  Christ  was  at  his  elbow.'  The  thought 
is  more  applicable  to  prayer.  It  were  well  could  we  realize  the 
presence  of  God  in  our  acts  of  devotion,  and  see  our  own  charac- 
ters in  the  light  in  which  God  sees  them.  In  the  examples  of 
prayer  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  what  profound  humility,  what 
self-abasement,  what  earnestness  of  pleading,  are  everywhere 
discovered  !  When  our  hearts  feel  the  sentiments  we  express, 
the  tones  of  the  voice  will  easily  conform  themselves.  It  will 
be  nature  speaking  naturally,  and  grace  graciously  ;  there  will 
be  no  need  of  effort ;  and  you  know  that  affectation,  especially 
in  prayer,  is  deepest  deformity,  if  not  something  unspeakably 
worse." 

Previously  to  his  being  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel,  young" 
Alexander  was  seized  with  pain  in  the  chest,  and  was  affected 
with  considerable  debility  ;  and  this  led  him  to  fear  that  he 
should  never  possess  a  sufficient  measure  of  strength  for  the 
labors  of  the  saored  office.  His  mind  also  was  afflicted  with 
many  anxieties  and  fears  respecting  his  call  from  God  to  serve 
him  in  the  gospel  of  his  Son ;  and  in  this  situation  he  laid 
open  his  heart  to  his  father,  who  wrote  him  in  the  spirit  of 
most  affectionate  sympathy,  and  set  before  him  every  sugges- 
tion which  could  soothe  and  encourage  him. 

"London,  Feb.  20,  1818. 
"  My  Dear  Alexander, — I  cannot  convey  to  you  an  idea  of 


342  LETTERS    TO    HIS    SON    ALEXANDER. 

the  deep  distress  into  which  your  letter  of  Saturday  has  cast  us. 
Your  dear  mother  is  overcome  to  weakness.  You  seem,  however, 
to  take  the  matter  much  too  severely.  The  elevation  of  your 
voice  is  certainly  within  your  power,  and  this  is  the  only  im- 
perfection in  your  service.  By  accustoming  yourself,  as  Demos- 
thenes did,  to  speak  on  the  beach,  and  to  drown  the  noise  of  the 
waves,  you  may  acquire  strength  of  voice  that  will  fill  any  Se- 
ceding meeting-house  in  the  land.  Your  timidity  also  would 
prevent  you  from  doing  justice  to  your  powers  of  articulation. 
Go  forward  with  firmness,  and  there  is  no  cause  for  fear.  You 
stand  well  with  the  Presbytery  ;  and  another  exhibition,  with  a 
little  more  spirit  and  life,  will  restore  your  mind  to  its  full  com- 
posure. Your  tender  hints  respecting  assistance  to  me  in  the 
evening  of  my  life  came  so  near  to  my  heart,  that  I  dare  scarce 
read  over  that  part  of  your  letter  which  contains  them.  It  is  a 
measure  of  comfort  which  in  this  mixed  state  of  things,  however 
much  I  might  fondly  desire  it,  I  never  durst  hope  for,  or  give, 
even  to  your  dear  mother,  a  distant  hint  of.  Go  forward  in  the 
exercise  of  David's  frame  of  spirit :  '  The  Lord  shall  choose  for 
me  the  lot  of  mine  inheritance.'  There  is  no  way  of  obtaining 
peace  and  composure  but  this. 

"On  gravely  turning  the  matter  in  my  mind,  and  I  have 
scarcely  thought  of  anything  else  since  the  morning  that  I  re- 
ceived your  letter,  I  really  see  very  little  cause  of  discouragement. 
Your  own  imagination  has  given  form  and  substance  to  a  mere 
phantom.  Make  yourself  master  of  your  subject ;  try  to  acquire 
some  higher  measure  of  self-possession  ;  mark  in  your  manuscript 
the  emphatic  words,  and  speak  under  a  strong  sense  of  the  Di- 
vine presence.  Read  James  i.  6-8,  and  God  will  help  you  to 
annihilate  your  auditory,  so  far  as  it  can  be  viewed  as  an  object  of 
fear. 

"  I  need  not  add  that  I  shall  bear  you  on  my  heart  before  the 
throne  of  God  day  and  night,  and  hope  he  will  graciously  listen  to 
a  father's  supplication  on  behalf  of  a  beloved  son,  in  so  sacred  a 
cause.  Nil  desperandum,  Christo  dace.  Write  that  at  the  top  of 
your  sermon.  Bring  nerve  from  Him  who  is  the  glory  of  our 
strength.     Ever  and  most  affectionately  yours." 

Through  the  kindness  of  his  God,  this  accomplished  young 
man  regained  some  measure  of  strength,  and  finished  the 
usual  trials  for  license  before  the  Presbytery  of  Coldstream, 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    SON    ALEXANDER.  343 

with  the  highest  approbation  of  every  member  of  that  court. 
The  intelligence  gratified  his  father  exceedingly,  while,  at  the 
same  time,  it  stirred  up  his  holy  solicitude  that  bis  beloved 
son  might  rightly  divide  the  word  of  truth,  and  be  in  his  own 
character  an  example  of  piety. 

"  London,  April  18,  1818. 
"  My  Dear  Son, — Yours  of  Wednesday  has  poured  a  stream 
of  sacred  delight  over  my  withered  heart,  to  which,  through  the 
influence  of  anxious  fear,  it  lias  for  a  long  time  been  a  stranger. 
There  is  not  a  feeling  disclosed  in  your  letter  which  I  would,  for 
any  earthly  good,  in  the  smallest  degree  lessen  or  weaken.  Your 
sense  of  the  awful  importance  of  your  work,  I  hope  you  will  ever 
cherish,  and  also  of  your  own  inability.  A  flippant,  careless 
ministry  is  a  curse  to  the  Gospel  church.  The  feeling  you  have 
will  keep  you  humble,  and  make  you  diligent  and  faithful.  It 
will  lead  you  hourly  to  the  fulness  of  Christ,  from  which  emanate 
all  our  supplies.  Lean  on  him  with  undivided  and  child-like 
confidence.  Prepare  your  discourses  with  such  care,  and  deliver 
them  with  such  earnestness,  as  if  all  depended,  in  regard  to  their 
success,  on  yourself;  and,  meanwhile,  lean  on  the  promised  pres- 
ence of  the  Holy  Spirit,  fully  and  entirely,  for  all  the  blessed 
effects  of  the  word  on  the  understanding,  the  conscience,  and  the 
heart.  It  is  this  union  of  labor  and  dependence  which  ministers 
should  ardently  breathe  after.  Put  as  much  of  your  heart  into 
your  delivery  as  you  possibly  can.  While  you  enlighten  the 
head,  let  the  warmth  of  your  own  soul  enkindle  a  corresponding 
warmth  in  the  souls  of  your  hearers.  Beware  even  of  that  neat- 
ness and  elegance  which  may  tempt  your  hearers  to  suspect  you 
are  at  play  with  your  subject,  and  seeking  to  secure  their  ap- 
probation, rather  than  to  save  their  souls.  In  the  preface,  to  the 
venerable  John  Brown's  System  you  will  find  some  heart-search- 
ing and  most  valuable  hints  to  young  preachers.  Read  and  pray 
over  them.  Let  not  the  feeling  of  inability  discourage  you. 
Before  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  began  his  public  ministry,  his  Father 
visited  him  with  six  weeks  of  dark  and  overwhelming  tempta- 
tions, by  the  devil,  in  the  wilderness.  The  deep  concern  in  which 
your  mind  has  been  engaged  augurs  well  to  encourage  these  suit- 
able dispositions.  Meditate  deeply  on  the  value  of  the  immortal 
soul,  on  the  price  paid  for  its  redemption,  on  the  multitudes  around 


344  LETTERS    TO    HIS    SON    ALEXANDER. 

you  who  are  daily  sinking  into  hell  under  the  pressure  of  guilt, 
and  in  a  state  of  extreme  moral  pollution,  with  scarcely  a  single 
arm  stretched  out  to  relieve  and  restore.  Let  nothing  satisfy  you, — 
no  degree  of  approbation  by  men, — nothing  but  evidence  of  deep 
concern" being  awakened  in  the  careless  mind  about  things  eternal. 
Associate,  as  much  as  may  be,  with  aged,  experimental,  humble 
Christians  ;  bear  with  their  infirmities,  and  comfort  their  hearts. 
In  your  intercourse  with  your  brethren,  young  or  old,  resist  every 
tendency  on  their  part  to  take  liberties  with  the  talents  or  the  con- 
duct of  the  absent.  In  place  of  censuring,  even  where  there  is 
ground  for  censure,  the  more  successful  method  of  correcting  evil, 
is  silently,  by  our  own  practice,  to  show  them  a  better  way.  Man 
will  sooner  mend  himself,  by  himself  observing  his  own  imper- 
fections in  the  light  of  another's  superiority,  than  by  receiving 
reproof  from  others.  I  greatly  wish  you  to  be  loved  more  than 
feared,  and  would  rather  that  you  were  the  author  of  Goldsmith's 
Deserted  Village  than  of  Lord  Byron's  English  Bards  and  Scotch 
Reviewers,  though  ten  guineas  have  lately  been  offered  for  a 
single  copy. 

"  But  the  bellman  for  letters  will  be  here,  and  the  homilies  of 
to-morrow  are  yet  unfinished.  Your  dear  mother  is  overcome  with 
joy,  and  is  gone,  I  believe,  to  the  Throne,  to  pour  out  her  thanks- 
giving on  your  account.  To  your  brother,  for  his  kindness  to  you, 
our  obligations  are  great ;  but  it  is  not  a  painful  feeling  to  be  under 
obligations  to  a  dutiful  son.  Write  often,  and  fully,  and  frankly, 
to  your  affectionate  father." 

The  last  letters  to  this  son  which  we  shall  lay  before  the 
reader,  were  written  while  he  was  laboring  under  that  illness 
which  brought  him  to  the  grave.  There  is  something  very 
solemn  in  the  tenderness  which  they  breathe ;  and  bitter  as 
the  disappointment  of  his  hopes  as  to  his  son's  long'  and  honor- 
able course  in  the  ministry  must  have  been,  he  bore  it  with 
entire  submission.  How  beautiful  is  the  allusion  in  the  first 
letter  to  his  own  infirmity ! — and  how  affecting  was  the 
thought,  that  he  was  his  companion  in  tribulation,  and  in  the 
kingdom  and  patience  of  Jesus  Christ ! 

"  Salisbury  Place,  July  19,  1823. 
"  My  Dear  Alexander, — I  am  longing  to  hear  from  yourself. 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    SON    ALEXANDER.  345 

The  voice  of  God  is  not  equivocal  in  his  heavy  dispensation  to 
father  and  son.  Let  us  he  deeply  concerned  to  bring  forth  the 
fruits  of  righteousness,  which  is  God's  object  in  the  visitation. 
As  to  myself,  I  can  reasonably  look  for  no  return  to  former  bodily 
or  mental  vigor.  The  shadows  of  the  evening  are  drawing  over 
me.  But  your  constitution  will,  I  trust,  by  the  good  Dr.  Darling's 
care,  be  soon  restored  and  confirmed,  and  many  years  of  useful- 
ness secured  to  you.  Exercise  seems  absolutely  necessary  for 
your  recovery,  and  the  prolongation  of  health  ;  and  if  you  could 
be  aroused  to  avail  yourself  of  them,  you  have  delightful  walks  at 
Camberwell.  The  clouds  with  which  it  has  pleased  your  heavenly 
Father  of  late  to  darken  your  outward  estate,  will  pass  away,  and 
the  day  be  restored.  Your  God  is  faithful,  and  will  not  suffer  you 
to  be  tempted  above  what  you  arc  able  to  bear.  If  you  can  spare 
the  strength  necessary  to  the  perusal  of  Scott  of  Aston  Sandford's 
Life  by  his  son,  your  faith  in  God  in  the  darkest  hour,  your  patience 
of  hope,  and  your  submission  to  trials,  will,  by  the  aid  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  be  augmented  to  a  measure  unfelt  before.  It  has  been  my 
companion  on  my  couch  and  on  the  sofa  for  this  fortnight ;  and  I 
would  not,  poor  as  I  am,  exchange  the  delight  of  soul  and  spiritual 
benefit  I  think  I  have  received,  for  much  gold  and  silver.  I  have 
in  my  darker  moods  thought  that  God  put  it  into  my  hand  to  pre- 
pare me  for  the  close  of  my  own  poor  and  unprofitable  life.  May 
my  latter  end  be  like  his,  with  all  his  fears,  privations,  and  pains  ! 
No  wonder  his  son's  heart  should  be  elevated  while  drawing  the 
picture  of  such  a  father. 

"  Farewell :  I  do  not  know  when  I  wrote   so  long  a  letter. 
Ever  and  affectionately  yours." 


«  Salisbury  Place,  July  30,  1824. 
"My  beloved  Alexander, — We  are  disappointed  in  not  seeing 
you  to-day.     But  you  are  acting  very  prudently.      The  thought 

of  accompanying  you,  gladdens  and  supports  our  hearts. 

We  shall  feel  comparatively  at  case,  during  your  journey,  when 
I  consider  the  ample  assistance  you  will  have.  I  would  come 
out  myself  to-day,  but  my  preparations  make  it  almost  impos- 
sible ;  and  it  would  only  cause  an  unprofitable  expenditure  of 
feeling,  which  neither  of  us  is  very  fit  to  endure.  I  have  resisted 
hitherto  as  much  as  I  can,  because  it  would  distress  you.  My 
soul  goes  to  God  for  relief,  and  my  fervent  prayers  for  the  spiritual 

15* 


346     LETTERS    TO    THE    WIDOW    OF    HIS     SOX    ALEXANDER. 

health  of  your  mind,  and  your  perfect  recovery,  He  will  not  despise. 
O !  be  concerned  to  repose  growing  confidence  in  his  love  and 
faithfulness.  Wait  for  his  time  of  relief.  Read  the  promises,  and 
dwell  on  them  in  your  thoughts.  Farewell !  the  everlasting  arms 
be  underneath  and  around  you  !" 

The  death  of  this  son  was  deeply  felt  in  his  father's  house  ; 
but  while  Dr.  Waugh  was  careful  to  apply  to  his  own  soul 
the  consolations  of  religion,  and  to  soothe  his  afflicted  family, 
his  heart  bled  for  the  widow,  whose  union  with  the  friend  of 
her  early  years, — with  him  whose  genius,  talents,  and  piety, 
she  estimated  so  highly,  and  to  whose  happiness  she  was  so 
devoted, — had  been  so  speedily  dissolved.  He  labored  by  the 
kindest  attentions  to  console  her,  entered  with  the  most  affec- 
tionate interest  into  all  her  plans,  and  was  eager  to  show  on 
every  proper  occasion,  that  he  loved  her  and  cared  for  her  as 
if  she  had  been  his  own  child.  The  letter  that  follows  is  a 
beautiful  expression  of  such  feelings : — 

"  Salisbury  Place,  July  18,  1825. 

"  My  beloved  Louisa, — I  pray  God,  by  his  good  Spirit,  to  sup- 
port your  mind  under  the  sad  recollections  which  these  anniver- 
sary days  of  your  suffering  and  woe  will  awaken,  and  to  supply 
you  with  the  consolations  which  his  sure  promise  is  intended  to 
convey  to  your  bereaved  heart,  and  which  in  some,  though  com- 
paratively in  very  small,  measure,  will  also  be  derived  from  the 
character  of  your  dear  husband,  and  the  abundant  evidences  we 
have  of  his  translation  to  the  world  of  light  and  supreme  bles- 
sedness. The  rays  of  Tuesday  morning's  sun — '  that  blessed  sun' 
that  lighted  him  to  heaven,  I  shall  contemplate  with  deepest  in- 
terest of  soul,  and  bear  you  on  my  heart  before  the  throne,  near 
to  which  the  dear  departed  now  adores.  I  hope  soon  to  be 
there. 

"  Your  Father  in  heaven  sent  for  him  sooner  than  we  all  fondly 
expected.  But  could  we  hear  his  voice,  I  think  he  would  say 
to  me  and  to  you, '-  If  ye  loved  me,  ye  would  rejoice,  because  I 
am  gone  to  the  Father.'  Let  us  walk  in  the  steps  of  his  pure 
and  adoring  piety,  and  in  a  short  time  we  shall  meet,  to  be  sepa- 
rated no  more.    O  !  the  thought  is  sufficient  to  fix  the  most  wa- 


LETTERS  TO  THE  WIDOW  OF  HIS  SON  ALEXANDER.  347 

vering,  to  inspire  with  activity  the  most  sluggish,  and  to  make  a 
martyr  of  a  coward  ! 

"  I  regret  my  distance  from  you,  and  that,  owing  to  feebleness 
of  body  and  incessant  pressure  of  duty,  or  something  that  comes 
in  the  shape  of  duty,  I  am  prevented  from  becoming  acquainted 
with  your  mind,  and  its  pious  and  useful  stores,  as  I  could  wish. 
I  can  meet  you,  my  dear  child,  however,  at  the  throne  of  grace 
daily,  and  that  is  the  most  delightful  and  useful  place  of  meeting. 
Intercourse  with  Him  who  fills  the  throne  sanctifies  the  occasional 
intercourse  of  social  life  below.  Farewell.  Every  purchased 
blessing  be  in  your  cup,  and  sweeten  all  its  bitterness  !  Ever  your 
affectionate  father." 

In  another  letter  to  the  same  relative,  he  mentions  an  inci- 
dent that  deeply  affected  him  : — 

"  I  have  just  heard  a  tale  of  anguish  which  has  deeply  de- 
pressed my  soul.     A  Miss ,  a  worthy  minister's  daughter,  of 

Orkney,  aged  seventy-one,  of  excellent  character,  was  yesterday 
barbarously  dragged  to  a  spunging-house,  and  to-night  will  prob- 
ably be  lodged  in  a  prison.  It  might  have  been  a  daughter  of 
my  own.  It  is  for  her  rent,  which  is  £18.  I  got  £5  for  her, 
a  month  ago,  from  the  excellent  Alexander  Gordon.  I  applied 
to  Sir  William  Knighton  to  present*  her  case  to  the  king,  but 
without  effect.  O  that  the  Father  of  mercies  would  rend  the 
heavens, — that  firmament  of  iniquity  which  our  crimes  have  made 
thick,  hard,  and  lurid, — and  pour  down  his  good  Spirit  in  rich 
effusion,  as  the  spirit  of  sympathy,  love,  and  beneficence,  on  human 
hearts !" 

If  the  tenderness  of  his  heart  made  him  feel  more  pain 
than  some  others  feel  at  the  sight  of  a  fellow-creature's  misery, 
it  gave  him  a  higher  degree  of  pleasure  in  their  relief  or 
their  happiness  than  can  be  experienced  by  the  cold  and  the 
selfish.  And  while  he  felt  at  times,  though  rarely,  the  mor- 
tification of  soliciting  in  vain  human  compassion  for  them,  ho 
was  always  solaced  and  blessed  in  pleading  their  cause  with 
God,  whose  ear  is  ever  open  to  the  cry  of  benevolent  inter- 
cession, and  who  grants  to  the  suppliant,  mercy  to  himself 
while  he  asks  it  for  others. 


348  LETTERS    TO    HIS     DAUGHTERS. 

To  one  of  his  daughters  and  her  husband  he  writes,  on 
their  marriage,  in  a  strain  of  most  judicious  and  affectionate 
counsel : — 

"  Salisbury  Place,  March  7,  1817. 

"My  beloved  Children, — The  gracious  providence  of  God 
has  united  you  in  a  relation  singularly  tender,  honorable,  and 
endearing.  I  have  every  reasonable  ground  to  hope  that  it  has 
been  formed  under  the  approbation  of  Heaven ;  and  I  assure 
myself  that  it  will  be  your  concern  to  walk  suitably  to  a  sense 
of  that  favor  and  approbation.  He  is  your  first,  best  Friend. 
In  his  favor  is  life.  Seek  that  favor  supremely.  Seek  his 
blessing  in  the  closet  and  in  the  family.  Wherever  Abraham 
pitched  his  tent,  there  he  reared  the  family  altar.  I  know  the 
modesty  of  your  minds ;  but  a  sense  of  the  Divine  majesty  and 
presence  will  soon  swallow  up  the  sense  of  the  presence  of  others. 
I  cannot  conceive  an  object  more  lovely  and  interesting,  than 
two  virtuous  young  persons,  with  their  domestics,  surrounding 
the  family  altar,  and  pouring  out  their  hearts  to  Him  who  setteth 
the  solitary  in  families,  and  has  promised  to  become  the  God  of 
the  families  of  the  whole  earth.  On  the  other  hand,  I  never 
read  that  awful  denunciation  but  my  heart  grows  cold, — '  Pour 
out  thy  fury,  O  God,  on  the  nations  that  know  thee  not,  and  on 
the  families  that  call  not  dh  thy  name.'  I  am  convinced  that 
bashfulness,  in  good  and  pious  minds,  prevents  young  persons 
from  beginning ;  and  that  it  requires  only  a  little  firmness,  at 
first,  to  overcome  that  backwardness,  and  to  introduce  an  exer- 
cise which  will  be  the  best  delight  and  joy  of  the  heart.  I  greatly 
desire  to  meet  you  on  your  return  from  the  country,  that  I  might 
introduce  the  daily  sacrifice.  On  Monday  night  I  shall  be  with 
you. 

"  Next  to  secret  and  family  devotion,  as  an  instrument  of  ad- 
vancing true  happiness  in  the  soul,  is  the  daily  reading  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  by  ourselves,  and  the  faithful  application  of  their 
contents,  for  regulating  our  tempers,  and  supporting  our  spirits. 
In  the  present  estate  of  man,  a  large  portion  of  our  happiness 
arises  from  the  culture  of  our  tempers  ;  and  the  laws  of  God, 
with  the  matchless  life  of  his  Son,  are  the  hallowed  means  of 
regulating  the  moral  dispositions  of  the  soul,  and  of  bringing 
our  tempers  into  a  state  of  nearness  to  the  temper  of  Jesus.  The 
effect  of  this  sanctity  of  mind  and  gentleness  of  spirit  will  be  a 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  349 

conversation  at  table  and  at  your  fireside,  which  will  profit,  purify, 
and  strengthen  the  soul ;  while  love  and  tenderness  will  throw  a 
mild  lustre  over  the  whole. 

"  It  has  been  found  a  source  of  lasting  love,  in  the  conjugal 
state,  to  show  particular  respect  and  kindness  to  each  other's  rela- 
tions. 

"  I  need  not  advert  to  the  mutual  and  unlimited  confidence 
which  each  should  repose  on  the  other  ;  to  the  respect  which,  in 
the  midst  of  the  greatest  frankness,  they  should  cherish  and 
maintain  towards  each  other ;  to  the  combination  of  effort  to 
advance  each  other's  solid  happiness  ;  to  the  importance  of  care 
and  frugality  (without  contemptible  meanness)  in  managing  tem- 
poral concerns ;  and  to  the  value  of  a  condescending  and  accom- 
modating temper  in  all  things  lawful  and  honorable.  In  one  word, 
were  christian  husbands  to  love  their  wives  as  Christ  loveth  the 
church,  and  wives  to  be  obedient  to  their  own  husbands  as  the 
church  is  subject  to  Christ,  every  family  would  be  a  little  nursery 
for  heaven.  Such,  my  dear  children,  may  your  family  be !  and 
then  you  yourselves  will  be  happy,  and  you  will  gladden  our 
hearts  more  than  gold  and  silver,  and  titles  from  the  throne,  could 
gladden  them. 

"Excuse  this  hurried  scrawl.  I  am  just  going  out  as  far  as 
Islington.  Every  promised  and  purchased  blessing  be  in  your 
cup !  Ever  and  most  affectionately  your  best  friend  and  fa- 
ther." 

And  to  the  same  daughter  : — 

"  Sabbath  Forenoon,  Dec.  28,  1817. 

"My  dear  Daughter, — Though,  in  the  wise  appointment  of 
Heaven,  this  be  a  silent,  I  am  desirous  that  it  be  not  utterly  a  use- 
less Sabbath.  I  have  been  reading  the  1st  Epistle  of  St.  Peter  to 
your  dear  mother  and  Jane,  and  think  it  will  do  me  good  to  scrawl 
a  few  lines  to  you. 

"  The  Lord  has  been  truly  gracious  to  you,  in  putting  you  into 
the  bosom  of  the  man  of  your  «choice,  whose  piety  will  assist  the 
best  affections  of  your  heart,  whose  character  will  secure  respect 
to  you  wherever  he  is  known,  and  whose  unwearied  industry 
will,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  furnish  him  with  the  means  of  sup- 
plying all  your  reasonable  wants.  It  is  the  delightful  anticipa- 
tion of  my  heart,  that  the  sacred   union  of  minds  will  be  ever- 


350  LETTERS    TO    IIIS     DAUGHTERS. 

lasting.  Let  the  experience  you  have  already  had  of  the  care 
and  love  of  Divine  Providence  encourage  you  to  hope  in  the 
same  care  and  love  as  to  the  future.  When  we  pass  through 
the  waters,  he  hath  promised  that  he  will  be  with  us,  so  that  the 
floods  may  not  overflow  us.  Calm  'and  fixed  confidence  in  his 
faithfulness  will  remove  the  painful  agitations  of  doubt  and  ap- 
prehension, and  promote  a  peaceful  serenity  of  mind,  favorable 
to  the  patient  endurance  of  every  trial,  as  well  as  honorable  to 
our  faith  and  hope.  This  confidence  in  God  will  be  greatly  pro- 
moted by  reading  the  deliverances  which  God  hath  in  former 
days  wrought  for  his  people,  and  by  meditating  on  the  power 
and  faithfulness  of  Him  who  hath  given  us  the  promise,  and  who 
is  too  great  and  too  good  to  deceive.  By  constant  and  very  ear- 
nest prayer,  also,  will  our  trust  in  God  be  greatly  strengthened  and 
cherished. 

"  By  the  blessing  of  God  on  the  means  which  our  excellent 
friend  Dr.  Darling  has  used,  I  feel  greatly  relieved  ;  and  hope 
assuredly,  to  be  able  to  officiate  publicly  next  Lord's  day.  Your 
dear  and  invaluable  mother  has  had  a  severely  fatiguing  week  with 
my  cumbersome  load  of  infirmity  and  corruption,  and  her  kind- 
ness to  our  dear  relatives.  Indeed,  had  not  her  constitution  been 
strong,  and  her  love  given  to  it  an  impulse  beyond  its  natural  vigor, 
she  must  long  ago  have  sunk  under  the  pressure.  Her  reward 
will  be  great,  and  the  more  so  that  I  myself  have  been  able  to  pay 
so  small  a  portion  of  the  debt.  It  is  some  comfort  that  my  dear 
children  will  supply,  to  the  utmost  of  their  power,  my  deficiency. 

"  The  lads  are  come  in  from  the  meeting-house,  and  have  made 
me  glad  by  their  account  of  the  good  lecture  you  have  had.  Amid 
the  ruins  of  a  broken  constitution,  what  a  comfort  it  is  to  look  for- 
ward to  that  luminous  morning,  when  the  Son  of  God  shall  change 
our  vile  bodies,  and  fashion  them  like  unto  his  own  glorious  body, 
according  to  the  working  whereby  he  is  able  to  subdue  all  things 
unto  himself. 

"  Farewell,  my  beloved  girl.  The  everlasting  arms  be  under- 
neath and  around  you !  With  affectionate  regards  to  your  hus- 
band, I  ever  am  your  faithful  friena  and  father." 

"  Brighton, ,  1823. 

"  The  scene  before  me  is  wonderfully  interesting.  It  is  the 
wide-spread  ocean,  the  waves  of  which  reach  to  within  a  few  yards 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  351 

of  the  window.  Its  murmurs  are  music  to  my  ears ;  its  curling 
waves,  white  as  snow,  in  endless  succession  roll  gently  to  the 
beach.  There  seems  to  be  a  dead  silence  in  the  place.  No  idle 
people  on  the  promenade :  all  are  at  church,  I  hope,  listening  to 
the  words  of  Him  who  made  the  sea,  and  laid  the  foundation  of 
the  adjoining  downs ;  whose  Son,  the  messenger  of  heavenly 
mercy,  dignified  the  mountains  his  right  hand  had  made,  with 
the  impress  of  his  feet,  and  sanctified  the  breeze  that  circulates 
round  their  base,  by  making  it  the  conveyance  of  mercy  and 
love  to  a  fallen  world.  It  grieves  me  that  I  cannot  be  permitted 
to  say  a  few  things  on  this  sacred  day  to  my  fellow-men,  and  to 
the  redeemed  of  the  Lord.  I  think  half  an  hour  would  do  me 
good. 

"  I  rejoice  in  the  addition  which  the  gracious  providence  of 
God  has  made  to  your  family.  By  the  increase  of  christian  fam- 
ilies, God  makes  provision  for  the  perpetuity  of  his  church  on 
earth,  while  he  supplies  himself  with  the  accustomed  means  of 
displaying  his  fatherly  care  of  our  needy  and  helpless  offspring, 
and  thereby  strengthen  our  confidence  in  his  faithful  promises, 
both  during  life,  and  in  the  solemn  hour  of  retiring  from  the 
scene.  May  the  promises  that  God  will  be  the  God  of  our  chil- 
dren (which  you  well  know  and  daily  plead)  bo  in  richest  meas- 
ure fulfilled  in  your  experience  and  in  theirs !  I  shall  count  the 
days  till  I  have  an  opportunity  of  admitting,  by  the  holy  insti- 
tute of  our  religion,  your  dear  son  to  the  fellowship  of  the  visible 
church ;  and  if  my  strength  advances  as  it  has  done  since  Friday, 
it  will  not  be  long.  Plead  that  promise,  '  I  will  pour  my  Spirt 
on  thy  seed,  and  my  blessing  on  thine  offspring.'  Present  such 
promises  with  earnestness  and  holy  urgency.  It  is  the  want  of 
pith  in  our  prayers  that  prevents  the  notice  of  them  by  the  ear 
of  God,  and  the  answer  of  them  in  our  experience.  We  would 
not  plead  so  coldly  for  bread  and  clothing,  were  we  in  want  of 
either.  We  are  not  duly  alive  to  the  value  of  the  boon  we  crave. 
Love  to  Jeane,  my  tender  nurse,  and  to  good  Mr.  Henderson.  He 
read  my  few  lines  to  my  dear  people,  I  hope,  yesterday.  I  shall 
write  him  in  a  few  days.  Be  sure  to  ask  him  if  there  be  any 
letters  he  would  wish  me  to  give  him,  in  the  way  of  introduc- 
tion. The  powers  of  my  mind  are  broken,  and  every  purpose 
dies  almost  as  soon  as  formed ;  but  assure  him  that  it  proceeds 
not  from  neglect  of  his  comfort.  Tell  me  if  anybody  be  ill,  and 
I  will  write  to  them ;  though  I  know  that  he  himself  will  kindly 


352  LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS. 

visit  them,  and  one  of  the  elders  will  conduct  him  to  their  habita- 
tions." 

On  the  illness  of  one  of  her  children  : — 

"Mind  the  relation  in  which  you  stand  to  God.  You  call 
him  Father ;  you  have  intrusted  to  his  love  the  salvation  of  your 
soul,  and  he  expects  that  you  should  intrust  to  him  the  dearest 
earthly  good  which  your  heart  embraces.  Look  up  to  him  for 
the  strength  that  is  necessary  to  enable  you  to  wait  calmly  and 
patiently  on  the  dispensations  of  his  government.  Oar  minds  are 
feeble  ;  but  he  can  make  the  feeble  as  David,  and  David  as 
the  angel  of  the  Lord.  Your  beloved  children  are  infinitely 
more  safe  in  his  management  than  in  yours; — leave  them 
there." 

To  his  daughter  Jeane  Neill,  whose  long  and  severe  suffer- 
ings ended  in  her  death  in  November,  1830,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-one  years,  he  wrote  frequently.  Her  generous  devo- 
tedness  to  him  had  led  her  to  employ,  during  his  illness,  all 
the  resources  of  a  heart  glowing  with  kindness,  to  amuse 
and  solace  him.  When  her  own  health  began  to  droop,  he 
watched  her  with  anxious  fondness ;  and  from  his  letters  to 
her,  after  she  was  removed  from  him  to  situations  deemed 
more  suited  to  her  debilitated  state,  we  shall  select  some  pas- 
sages full  of  holy  wisdom  and  tenderness  ;  the  first  letter, 
however,  was  written  to  her  during  her  health  : — 

"  Salisbury  Place,  Feb.  4,  1821. 

"My  beloved  Daughter, — Your  letters  please  me  much,  as 

they  discover  an  improved   intellect   in   your  habits  of  thinking 

and  conveying  your  thoughts,  and  in  every  feeling  of  heart  that 

a  parent  can  desire.     Continue  to  compose  on  every  subject  that 

is  useful,  and  bid look  over  the  essays,  and  correct  any 

imperfections  that  he  may  notice.  It  is  no  small  attainment,  I 
assure  you,  to  be  able  to  arrange  your  thoughts  methodically, 
and  express  them  with  simplicity,  ease,  and  some  measure  of 
elegance ;  and  it  will  be  best  attained  by  reading  good  and  ele- 
gant author,  and  imitating  their  style  and  manner.  Dr.  Robert- 
son's language  is  perfectly  classical,  and  so  is  Dr.  Blair's.     I  must 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  353 

say  that  there  is  a  sad  want  of  scriptural  doctrine  in  the  sermons 
of  the  latter.  Sermons  without  the  atonement,  the  obedience  of 
Christ,  as  our  only  meritorious  title  to  heaven,  the  necessity  of 
the  in-dwelling  and  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  value  and  impor- 
tance of  regeneration,  being  placed  in  the  most  prominent  part,  arc 
poor  and  meagre  things  ;  and  of  these  principles  there  is  a  sad 
want  in  Dr.  Blair.  For  neatness  and  elegance,  however,  his  dis- 
courses are  estimable. 

"  I  hope  you  are  going  on  in  your  history,  and  making  your- 
self well  acquainted  with  Bingley's  Animal  Biography.  Mo- 
sheim's  Church  History  it  may  be  necessary  to  peruse  once,  to 
give  you  a  general  idea  of  the  external  state  of  the  Cospel 
church.  Read  over  carefully  Guthrie's  Geographical  Grammar; 
and  three  or  four  times  the  part  that  treats  of  England,  that  you 
may  have  some  notion  of  the  civil  constitution  of  your  own  coun- 
try, and  be  able  to  understand  any  conversation  about  the  rights  of 
the  king  and  parliament,  and  the  rank  and  duties  of  the  judges  of 
the  country.  I  think  you  have  a  general  biography,  and  it  were 
well  to  make  yourself  acquainted  with  the  lives  of  the  great  men 
both  in  ancient  and  modern  times,  but  especially  those  of  your  own 
country. 

"But  the  Bible!  the  Bible  is  the  book  of  books!  It  is  the 
inspiration  of  God,  the  record  of  redeeming  love,  the  standard 
of  morals,  the  foundation  of  heavenly  hope,  the  highest  gift  of 
God  to  man — excepting  only  Him  whose  divine  and  mediatorial 
excellence  forms  its  contents !  Read  this  blessed  book  morning 
and  evening,  treasure  its  stores  in  your  mind,  form  your  opinions 
of  what  is  honorable  and  worthy  on  its  estimate  of  conduct, 
build  all  your  hopes  on  its  promises,  and  let  the  character  of 
the  Redeemer  be  the  model  on  which  you  form  your  own — it  is 
the  perfection  of  moral  beauty  and  worth  ;  lay  up  the  promises 
in  your  memory ;  they  will  be  the  staff  on  which  you  must  lean 
when  the  arm  on  which  you  now  lean  is  nerveless  in  the  grave, 
Value  public  worship  highly.  It  is  to  be  lamented,  that  we 
consider  attendance  on  divine  ordinances  more  in  the  light  of  a 
duty  imposed  than  a  privilege  enjoyed  ;  but  surely  the  privilege 
is  great  of  being  allowed  to  hold  intercourse  with  the  Deity,  by 
pouring  out  our  hearts  into  the  car  of  our  Father  in  heaven,  by 
listening  to  the  communications  of  his  grace  and  mercy  to  us 
poor  perishing  sinners,  and  by  raising  our  voice  in  notes  of  adora- 
tion, gratitude,  and  confidence,  to  the  author  of  our  being,  the 


354  LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS. 

guide  of  our  youth,  the  vigor  of  our  manhood,  and  the  solace  of 
our  age. 

"  Ever  view,  my  dear  child,  wisdom's  ways  as  ways  of  pleas- 
antness. Connect  internal  vital  religion  with  the  health  of  the 
soul  and  the  possession  of  eternal  blessedness.  To  be  a  Chris- 
tian is  to  have  Christ  living  in  us — to  be  led  by  his  Holy  Spirit, 
who  conducts  us  by  means  of  the  word  dwelling  richly  in  our 
minds,  and  coming  into  immediate  contact  with  our  under- 
standing, our  conscience,  and  our  heart.  Beware  of  approach- 
ing to  forbidden  ground  :  fears  are  the  shields  of  life.  It  is  al- 
ways wise  to  keep  within  the  boundary  of  right :  the  man  who 
goes  as  far  as  he  may,  is  likely  to  go  farther  than  he  should. 
Endeavor  to  find  delight  and  consolation  in  secret  intercourse 
with  God.  Pour  out  your  heart  before  him.  He  is  your  Father 
in  heaven.  The  sighs,  the  groanings,  the  holy  breathings  of  his 
children,  are  sweeter  than  Gabriel's  song  in  his  ear.  Repose  un- 
qualified confidence  in  his  promises,  and  in  the  wisdom  and  good- 
ness of  his  government.  He  hath  intrusted  it  to  the  hands  that  were 
pierced  for  you.  Dwell  in  your  solitary  hours  on  the  matchless 
love  of  his  Son  ; — love,  that  beat  in  the  bosom  of  the  babe  of  Beth- 
lehem, and  burnt  with  increasing  ardor  till  it  bled  on  the  point  of 
the  soldier's  spear ; — love,  that  death  could  not  extinguish,  nor  the 
glories  of  paradise  divert  from  its  object.  Meditate  till  the  fire 
burn,  and  its  flame  ascend  to  Him,  who,  for  your  redemption,  lay  in 
the  manger,  and  hung  on  the  cross. 

"  In  regard  to  the  state  of  the  family, — your  dear  and  excel- 
lent mother  and  the  others  are  in  their  usual  way.  I  got,  by 
accident,  a  few  weeks  ago,  a  wound  in  my  leg,  inside,  a  little 
above  the  ankle.  Dr.  Darling  has  arrested  me,  and  confined  me 
to  the  house,  except  on  the  Sabbath.  I  shall  be  unable  to  fulfil 
my  fond  purpose  of  visiting  Hull,  and  lengthening  out  my  jour- 
ney to  Berwick.  The  wound  is  on  so  dangerous  a  place  for  a 
person  of  my  age,  that  I  must  stand  or  walk  as  little  as  possible. 
I  need  not  say  how  much  mortified  I  am  in  being  obliged  to 
abandon  my  plans.  But  He  has  done  it, — He  who  does  all  things 
well.  I  desire  to  bow  in  silent  submission  to  the  arrangements  of 
a  Providence  that  is  holy  and  gracious.  But  I  must  go  up  to  the 
study.  I  have  a  passage  for  the  lecture  to-morrow  that  has  often 
relieved  my  own  mind,  and,  I  hope,  will  be  of  use  to  others,  Psalm 
lxxxix.  30-37.  Ever,  my  beloved  and  dear  child,  your  affectionate 
father." 


LETTERS   TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  355 

"  The  Pavilion,  High  Harrowgate,  Yorkshire, 
August  11,  1825. 

"  My  Dear  Daughter, — You  know  what  our  divine  Redeemer 
said  to  Nicodemus, '  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see 
the  kingdom  of  heaven ;'  that  is,  he  cannot  be  a  genuine  member 
of  the  Gospel  church,  or  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth.  This  new 
birth  lies  in  the  possession  of  neio  sentiments  of  the  Saviour's  worth, 
inducing  us  to  lean  on  his  mediation,  death,  and  advocacy,  for  par- 
don of  sin,  and  title  to  future  blessedness  ;  of  new  principles  of 
religious  and  moral  action,  by  which  our  minds  will  venerate  the 
holiness,  and  love  the  goodness,  of  the  divine  law,  and  imploring 
aid  from  the  promised  Spirit  of  God,  put  forth  all  their  energies  in 
yielding  affectionate  and  cheerful  obedience  to  that  law  as  the 
delight  of  the  heart;  of  new  hopes  and  anticipations  as  to  the  future 
happiness  of  our  redeemed  and  sanctified  natures ;  of  new  sources 
of  enjoyment  in  fellowship  with  our  Father  in  heaven,  by  medita- 
ting on  his  grace  and  love  displayed  in  our  redemption,  by  breathing 
after  growing  conformity  to  his  holy  image,  more  unqualified  sub- 
mission to  all  the  arrangements  of  his  Providence,  and  by  habitually 
setting  him  ever  before  us,  not  as  an  object  of  slavish  fear  and 
alarm,  but  as  a  most  loving  and  merciful  Father,  who  withheld  not 
from  death  his  own  Son,  when  our  recovery  made  his  surrender 
and  sacrifice  necessary. 

"  Implore  of  God,  my  beloved  daughter,  to  create  in  your 
mind,  by  the  powers  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  those  sentiments,  prin- 
ciples, and  hopes,  and  to  open  those  sources  of  enjoyment  and 
fellowship,  and  to  enable  you  to  live  in  the  atmosphere  of  his 
gracious  presence.  Then  you  will  be  able  to  say,  in  the  absence 
of  your  beloved  relatives,  '  I  am  not  alone,  because  the  Father  is 
with  me.' 

"  Your  intercourse  with  your  dear  mother  and  brothers  will, 
I  trust,  be  very  beneficial  to  your  soul.  There  are  few  women 
that  possess  your  mother's  strength  of  understanding,  or  un- 
feigned piety  of  heart.  I  only  wish  she  would  more  frankly 
give  you  the  advantage  of  both.  I  hope  she  will  prevail  on  your 
brother  to  engage  in  both  the  parts  of  family  devotion,  on  the 
evenings  he  is  with  you.  It  is  nothing  but  his  modesty  that  will 
hinder  him ;  and  I  think  your  urgency  and  his  mother's  will 
prevail  on  him.  Now,  good  night,  my  beloved  girl :  every 
needful  blessing  be  mingled  in  your  cup.  Ever  and  most  affec- 
tionately yours." 


356  LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS. 

"  It  is  your  heavenly  Father  who  visits  you.  Be  well  assured, 
on  his  own  testimony,  that  the  visitation  takes  its  origin  in  the 
same  divine  principle,  under  the  impulse  of  which  he  sent  his 
Son  to  die  for  you, — even  the  love  of  his  heart ;  and  that  his 
object  is  to  bring  you  nearer  to  himself,  in  your  confidence,  your 
affection,  and  your  heavenly  hopes.  Pray,  and  pray  earnestly 
that  the  end  may  be  gained ;  then  the  spiritual  advantage  will 
be  great,  and  all  your  own.  Let  there  be  cherished  in  your  bosom 
no  jealousies  of  his  fatherly  care  of  you.  After  the  gift  of  his 
own  Son  for  our  redemption,  it  is  our  obstinacy  of  unbelief  to 
doubt  his  love  to  us.  In  the  dispensations  of  his  providence,  he 
consults  not  so  much  our  present  ease  as  our  future  good.  Judge 
his  operations,  therefore,  not  by  dim  sense,  but  trust  him  for  his 
grace.  Lean  on  his  promises  of  pardon,  holiness,  and  heaven, 
with  unvarying  reliance.  Take  comfort,  not  from  the  frames  of 
your  own  mind,  which  are  changeable  as  the  atmosphere,  but  from 
the  immutability  of  his  love,  the  perfection  of  the  atonement, 
and  the  faithfulness  of  his  promises.  His  promises  of  pity,  and 
kindness,  and  mercy,  are  the  words  of  the  God  of  truth.  On  this 
foundation  all  my  own  hopes  are  placed,  and  I  would  have  my  be- 
loved daughter  rear  the  structure  of  her  heavenly  expectations  on 
the  same  bisis. 

"  Now,  my  dear  child,  I  commend  you  to  the  melting  sympa- 
thy of  your  divine  Redeemer,  to  the  succor  of  his  grace,  to  the 
sanctifying  and  consoling  energies  of  his  holy  and  good  Spirit ;  and 
remain,  with  growing  love  and  tenderness,  your  most  affectionate 
father." 

In  another  letter  he  says  : — 

"  You  have  the  sympathy  of  your  divine  Redeemer  in  heaven, 
and  his  arm  is  strong  as  his  heart  is  tender.  Read  the  blessed 
Bible,  especially  the  3d  chapter  of  John's  Gospel,  the  8th  chapter 
of  the  Romans,  the  12th  chapter  of  the  Hebrews,  the  1st  and  2d 
chapters  of  the  Ephesians,  the  whole  of  the  1st  Epistle  of  John, 
and  the  7th  chapter  of  the  Revelations. 

"  Be  much  in  prayer.  The  prayers  of  God's  children  are  the 
delight  of  his  heart.  Pour  out  your  feelings  into  his  bosom,  and 
he  will  raise  your  desires  to  that  blessed  world  where  he  reigns 
in  glory  and  in  love :  wait  patiently  on  him  for  relief ;  he  is 
best  able  to  judge,  and  will  not  add  a  single  moment  more  than 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  357 

i.s  needful.  Lean  on  him  for  time  and  eternity.  Say,  '  The  Lord 
shall  choose  for  me  the  lot  of  my  inheritance,  the  measure  of  my 
suffering,  and  the  period  of  its  termination.'  This  will  introduce 
composure  into  your  mind,  and  brighten  your  prospect  as  to  the 
future." 

In  another  letter  he  says  : — 

"  The  God  you  adore  and  love  is  the  God  of  all  comfort.  There 
is  consolation  in  his  name :  the  Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious. 
There  is  consolation  in  his  heart :  he  delighteth  in  mercy.  There 
is  consolation  in  his  promises  :  '  I  will  be  merciful  to  their  un- 
righteousness, their  sins  and  their  iniquities  will  I  remember  no 
more.'  And  there  is  consolation  in  his  chastisements  :  '  As  many 
as  I  love,  I  rebuke  and  chasten.' 

"  To-morrow  we  meet  to  commemorate  the  love  of  our  divine 
Redeemer  in  dying  for  us.  Your  place  at  your  father's  board  will 
be  empty  ;  but  I  hope  your  soul  will  enjoy  fellowship  with  him, 
though  not  in  our  immediate  company.  To  the  good  Shepherd, 
who  laid  down  his  life  for  the  sheep,  you  have  intrusted  your  soul : 
he  will  guide  you  by  his  word  and  Spirit ;  when  you  wander,  he 
will  bring  you  back  to  himself;  in  weakness,  he  will  revive  and 
strengthen  you  ;  he  will  be  your  defence  in  danger,  he  will  make 
his  pastures  nutritive,  and  bring  you  home  at  last  to  the  heavenly 
fold  :  only  cleave  to  him  with  all  your  heart,  to  his  person,  ex- 
ample, laws,  and  people,  and  ways." 

In  the  album  of  the  same  daughter  he  inserted  the  follow- 
ing* sentiments  ;  which  may  serve  to  show  with  what  passages 
such  records  might  be  beneficially  adorned,  and  that  they  ought 
not  to  be  altogether  devoted  to  mere  flights  of  imagination,  or 
degraded  by  the  compliments  of  flattery. 

"  The  fear  of  God  is  the  foundation  of  all  respectability  of 
character, — the  genuine  source  of  true  happiness.  It  will  pre- 
serve the  young  mind  in  purity  and  peace  amid  the  fascination 
of  fashionable  and  depraved  society.  It  will  form  the  heart  to 
everything  connected  with  dignity  of  moral  principle,  and  the 
condescension  of  humble  and  active  goodness.  Like  the  star  of 
the  morning,  mild,  and  gentle,  and  full  of  life,  it  will  usher  in  a 
day  of  celestial  blessedness,  without  a  cloud,  and  without  a  close : 


358  ILLNESS    OF    HIS    DAUGHTER   JEANE. 

it  will  open,  in  the  character  and  promises  of  its  object,  springs 
of  consolation,  which  the  summer's  heat  cannot  exhaust,  nor  the 
frost  of  winter  seal  up  ;  it  will  strengthen  the  mind  under  the 
feebleness  of  age,  and  cheer  the  heart  when  the  light  of  day  re- 
cedes to  return  no  more  ;  it  is  the  safe  guide  of  inexperienced 
youth ;  it  is  the  pilgrim's  staff,  and  forms  the  brightest  jewel 
that  irradiates  the  martyr's  crown ;  it  is  the  gift  of  the  Spirit, 
and  includes  all  those  religious  excellencies,  of  confidence  in  the 
faithfulness  of  God,  veneration  of  his  sanctity,  gratitude  for  his 
love  in  redemption,  fear  of  offending  him,  and  hope  of  the 
blessedness  destined  for  the  righteous,  which  is  the  province 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  create,  strengthen,  regulate,  and  mature,  in 
the  regenerate  man.  Blessed  is  the  man  or  woman  who  feareth 
the  Lord  :  blessed  in  life,  more  blessed  in  death,  and,  most  of  all, 
blessed  after  death,  in  the  full  possession  of  the  future  dignity, 
sanctity,  and  felicity  of  their  redeemed  nature.  Such  blessedness 
may  my  beloved  daughter  possess,  through  the  tender  mercy  of 
God  her  Saviour  !" 

We  shall  now  subjoin  a  few  extracts  from  Dr.  Waugh's 
letters  to  other  members  of  his  family,  which  show  how 
acutely  his  heart*  sympathized  in  the  illness  of  this  beloved 
child. 

"  Poor  Jeane's  account  of  her  cough  has  much  depressed  my 
spirits.  I  fear  that  her  visit  to  Brighton  has  failed  in  producing 
the  good  I  had  fondly  expected.  But  let  us  trust  in  the  Lord's  ten- 
der mercy  and  grace,  that  our  earnest  prayer  will  be  heard,  and  our 
beloved  child  preserved  to  close  our  eyes  in  peace.  I  hope  her 
soul  is  suitably  exercised  under  the  lengthened  visitation,  that  his 
fatherly  chastisements  will  produce  the  fruits  of  holy  submission 
to,  and  unshaken  dependence  on  God,  and  thus  prepare  her  soul 
for  the  heavenly  world,  when  He  shall  call  her  to  it,  whether  in 
youth  or  old  age.  Good  Mr.  Broadfoot  offered  up  most  affectionate 
prayers  last  night  in  the  congregation  for  her  recovery,  in  which,  I 
am  sure,  all  that  knew  her  very  cordially  united.  Love  the  tender- 
est  to  her. 

"  You  must  not  be  hurt,  my  dearest  wife,  at  my  sending  the 
pheasants.  I  could  no  more  eat  them,  in  the  present  state  of 
yourself  and  our  dear  invalid,  than  I  could  eat  granite.  She 
must  continue  to  look  up  to  the  great  Physician,  and  to  feel 


DEATH    OF    HIS    DAUGHTER   JEANE.  359 

calm  and  entire  submission  to  his  holy  and  gracious  arrange- 
ments. Let  us  ourselves,  my  love,  bear  her  on  our  hearts  before 
the  throne  of  grace,  and  in  the  exercise  of  the  warmest  natural 
affection,  urge  her  recovery  on  the  heart  of  our  Father  and  our 
God.  Read  the  blessed  word  of  God,  the  spring  of  all  our  comfort, 
to  her.  My  poor  enfeebled  mind  can  ill  bear  the  renewed  pressure 
that  lies  upon  it.  I  desire  to  lean  on  a  stronger  arm  than  my 
own. 

"  7  o'clock,  Friday  Morning. — I  embrace  this  early  moment  to 
implore  Heaven's  richest  blessings  on  yourself  and  our  dear  suf- 
ferer. My  heart  grows  cold  when  I  look  forward.  Happy  for  us 
if  we  could  live  more  by  faith  in  God's  wise,  holy,  and  good  gov- 
ernment of  all  our  concerns,  leaving  everything  to  his  arrange- 
ment. Tenderest  love  to  Jeane,  and  all  that  live  round  about  your 
heart. 

"  My  heart  failed  me  as  I  read,  in  's  letter,  that  our 

dear  Jeane  was  losing  strength,  and  that  the  fever  had  returned. 
I  long  to  be  at  her  side,  and  I  bless  God  there  is  no  reason 
for  my  tarrying  here  longer  than  the  end  of  the  month. 
Besides  being  with  my  dear  Jeane,  I  am  very  deeply  anxious 
to  be  with  you,  my  dearest  wife,  in  your  dark  and  solitary 
hours,  and  to  suggest  to  your  mind  the  consolation  it  re- 
quires. *  *  *  Oh,  how  I  long  to  be  with  you  !  my  spirits 
sink  within  me  in  looking  forward.  In  my  letters  I  would 
divert  your  minds ;  but  when  alone  I  feel  quite  unnerved  and 
weakness  itself.  Your  brother,  as  always,  is  everything  that  is 
kind  and  generous  ;  but  I  know  not  why  that  very  kindness  un- 
nerves me." 

We  feel  that  no  apology  will  be  required  by  the  reader  for 
the  following  short  sketch  of  the  illness  and  death  of  this 
member  of  Dr.  Waugh's  family.  The  design  is  not  to  eulogie 
her  character  ;  for,  from  such  a  tribute,  however  merited  in 
the  estimation  of  all  who  knew  the  departed,  her  modest 
spirit  would  have  shrunk  with  trembling  and  fear.  The  in- 
tention of  the  writer  is  to  exhibit  the  peculiar  kindness  of 
God  to  the  children  of  the  good,  who  tread  in  their  steps, — 
to  show  the  happy  influence  of  a  father's  piety,  and  the  faith- 
fulness of  God  in  his  answers  vouchsafed  to  such  a  parent's 
prayers. 


360  DEATH    OF    HIS    DAUGHTER   JEANE. 

Her  health  had  been  declining,  and  symptoms  of  diseased 
lungs  had  manifested  themselves,  many  years  before  the  death 
of  her  father ;  but  it  was  not  till  the  spring  of  1830  that  the 
disease  put  on  appearances  fatal  to  all  hopes  of  her  recovery. 
At  this  time  she  was  seized  with  an  attack  of  determination 
of  blood  to  the  head,  which  much  depressed  her,  and  threw 
her  mind,  for  a  short  time,  into  a  state  of  great  excitement  in 
regard  to  the  state  of  her  heart  towards  God,  and  the  founda- 
tion on  which  her  faith  had  been  reared.  God,  in  his  loving- 
kindness,  smiled,  however,  upon  the  dark  cloud ;  his  promises 
broke  through  it ;  the  day,  the  unclouded  day,  arose  upon  her 
mind ;  and  she  came  forth  from  the  fiery  trial  that  tried  her  as 
gold  purified  seven  times.  From  this  period  she  laid  aside  the 
indulgence  of  all  hope  of  eventual  recovery,  and  evidently  lived 
under  the  hourly  impression  that  the  close  of  her  days  was 
drawing  nigh. 

We  shall  shortly  state  how  beautifully  the  spirit  of  her 
father  wrought  in  her  decline,  as  it  had  done  in  her  days  of 
health,  and  how  the  grace  that  blessed  his  latter  end,  blessed 
hers  also.  Her  disposition  was  naturally  most  generous  and 
enthusiastic,  and  all  her  feelings  so  sensitive,  as  to  expose  her, 
during  the  previous  years  of  her  life,  to  frequent  and  severe 
suffering,  however  unimportant  in  themselves  the  causes 
from  which  such  pains  occasionally  arose.  Little  did  her 
family  suppose  that  concealed  under  all  this  sensibility  lay 
the  firmness  and  strength  of  mind  which  her  conduct,  during 
her  long  illness,  manifested,  and  by  its  operations  on  which 
the  Spirit  of  God  so  wonderfully  supported  her — enabling  her, 
at  last,  to  look  with  composure  upon  that,  the  very  thought 
of  which,  during  her  years  of  health,  would  have  crushed  her 
gentle  spirit ;  and  to  show  to  her  friends  that,  when  stripped 
of  the  promises  of  her  youth,  and  shut  out  from  the  realization 
of  all  her  buoyant  young  hopes,  the  eye  of  her  faith,  unmoist- 
ened,  was  turned  from  the  interests  of  time  to  the  brighter 
and  more  lasting  scenes  of  an  eternity  that  came  hastening 
upon  her. 

Though  early  devoted  to  her  Saviour,  she  now  felt  an  in- 


DEATH    OF    HIS    DAUGHTER    JEANE.  JjQl 

creasing  and  earnest  desire  to  abstract  her  mind  from  every 
subject  that  might  interfere  with  her  entire  devotedness  to  her 
God.  She  would  not  even  allow  the  periodicals  of  the  day, 
from  which  formerly  she  received  much  pleasure  during  her 
illness,  to  be  read  in  her  hearing;  and  though  the  joyous 
elasticity  of  her  former  spirits  would  sometimes  return,  there 
was  a  peculiar  solemnity  about  her  manner  which  had  never 
displayed  itself  before.  She  frequently  said  to  her  sister  who 
nursed  her,  "I  believe  this  last  sad  distress  was  sent  in 
peculiar  mercy  ;  and  though,  from  my  early  years,  I  think  I 
have  loved  my  Saviour,  I  feel  now,  more  than  ever,  my 
entire  dependence  on  him."  Her  love  to  her  parents  had 
always  been  distinguished  by  the  greatest  tenderness  and 
enthusiasm,  and  ruled,  almost  as  a  tyrant,  over  every  other 
earthly  affection  ;  but  when  speaking  of  her  love  to  God,  as 
compared  with  her  love  to  her  sainted  father,  she  now  said, 
"They  are  distinct  feelings,  and  do  not  interfere  the  one 
with  the  other ;  my  love  to  my  father,  now  he  is  in  heaven, 
is  as  great  as  ever  it  was ;  but  my  love  to  my  God  is  so  much 
greater  than  it  used  to  be,  that  it  almost  swallows  up  the 
other."  During  the  last  six  weeks  of  her  life,  she  was 
entirely  confined  to  her  room,  and  latterly  to  her  bed.  Her 
state  of  mind  was  most  enviable.  She  enjoyed  the  peace  of 
God — was  at  peace  with  all  mankind — forgave,  with  all  the 
sincerity  of  a  dying  and  humble  believer,  any  by  whom  her 
exquisitely  sensitive  mind  had  been  wounded — and  daily 
poured  out  her  heart  in  gratitude  to  God  for  the  mercies  with 
which  she  was  surrounded.  When  speaking  of  her  coming 
dissolution,  she  said,  "The  world  holds  out  no  charms  to  me — 
no  inducements  to  wish  to  live ;  but  it  is  hard  to  leave  my 
mother.  I  feel  confident,  however,  that  God  will  support  you, 
and  reward  you  for  your  years  of  care  and  attention  to  me. 
I  am  going  home  to  perfect  bliss — of  this  I  have  no  doubt ; 
not,  O  no  (lifting  up  her  beautiful  eyes) — not  through  any 
righteousness  of  my  own,  but  alone,  alone  through  the 
righteousness  of  my  Redeemer.  Some  time  ago,  when  you 
and  I  conversed   upon   this  Bubject,  I  had   not  this  confidence 

16 


362  DEATH    OF    HIS   DAUGHTER   JEANE. 

— I  feared  that  I  was  building  upon  a  false  foundation  ;  but 
these  fears  are  all  gone."  It  was  replied,  "  You  have  not,  dear 
Jeane,  attained  to  this  without  much  struggling  and  wrestling 
with  God."  "  No,"  she  said ;  "  but  you,  if  you  do  so,  will  gain 
it  too." 

The  kindness  of  her  heart  did  not  wax  cold  during  her 
long  course  of  suffering.  Finding  her  strength  a  little  revived, 
though  scarcely  able  to  walk  across  the  room,  even  when 
assisted,  she  caused  her  work-box  to  be  brought  to  her,  and 
said  to  her  mother : — "  Now,  dear  mother,  I  am  going  to 
put  a  plan  into  execution,  of  which  I  have  thought  for  some 
time  past.  God  has  graciously  renewed  my  strength,  and  I 
am  anxious  to  show  my  gratitude  in  some  other  way  than 
by  words.  I  intend  to  make  some  fancy  articles,  and  you, 
my  brothers,  and  sisters,  will  purchase  them  of  me ;  and 
thus,  with  God's  blessing,  I  hope  to  be  able  to  provide  some 
warm  clothing  for  some  poor  people  against  the  coming 
winter."  She  entered  upon  the  work,  and  continued  it  till 
increasing  weakness  would  not  allow  her  even  to  sit  up  in 
bed.  It  was  customary  to  read  some  of  God's  promises  to 
her  out  of  that  valuable  little  work,  "  Clarke's  Scripture 
Promises,"  the  last  thing  every  night  before  she  lay  down. 
It  sometimes  happened,  that  many  were  read  to  her,  none 
of  which  came  home  to  her  present  feelings.  She  would 
say — "  These  promises  are  very  beautiful ;  but  they  do  not 
just  suit  me  to-night :  read  on ;"  and  when  one  was  read 
that  seemed  adapted  to  her  situation,  she  said,  "  Thafs  the 
one — thank  you,  dear  mother ;  do  not  read  any  more — this 
is  my  anchor — I  will  not  talk  any  more  ;"  and  then,  in  de- 
vout meditation,  she  composed  herself  to  rest.  It  is  delightful 
to  think  that  there  is  so  rich  a  variety  in  the  promises  of  God  ; 
that  the  tree  of  life  bears  twelve  manner  of  fruits — yields 
its  fruit  every  month  of  the  year,  eve*n  in  its  coldest  and 
darkest;  and  that  its  richest  branches  hang  over  the  dark 
valley. 

Though  she  had  no  wish  to  die,  the  evidences  she  gave  of 
her  calmness  and   acquiescence   were   most   abundant;   hers 


DEATH  OF  HIS  DAUGHTER  JEANE.  363 

was  the  submission  of  a  child — not  my  will,  but  thine. 
After  a  very  distressing  night,  she  said  in  the  morning  to  her 
sister,  "  Well,  dear,  if  this  is  death  coming  at  last,  how 
grateful  ought  I  to  be  that  my  mind  is  kept  in  perfect  peace! 
I  feel  no  more  concern  in  the  certainty  that  in  a  few  days  I 
shall  be  laid  in  Bunhill  Fields,  than  I  should  do  if  you  were 
to  lift  me  from  this  bed  to  yours."  She  inquired  of  her  kind 
medical  attendant,  a  day  or  two  before  her  death,  how  long 
he  thought  it  probable  she  could  continue  to  live.  He,  be- 
ing  well  acquainted  with  her  strength  of  mind,  replied,  "Not 
long."  "  Do  you  expect  to  see  me  alive  to-morrow  ?"  she 
asked.  He  replied,  "  Yes ;"  upon  which  she  thanked  him, 
and  pressed  the  inquiry  no  further ;  but  requested  her  sister 
to  have  in  readiness  whatever  might  be  necessary.  "  For 
myself,"  she  said,  "it  will  make  no  difference;  but,  for  your 
own  sakes,  I  hope  there  will  be  nothing  of  confusion."  Her 
sister  replied,  "  Yes,  to-morrow."  She  said,  "  No,  to-night 
— you  know  not  what  a  night  may  bring  forth  ;"  and  then 
begged  that  this  intelligence  might  be  conveyed  in  the  ten- 
derest  manner,  to  her  aged  mother.  She  said,  one  Sunday 
evening,  to  her  mother,  "It  has  always  appeared  to  me 
very  imprudent  in  people,  when  they  see  friends  just  about 
to  expire,  to  warn  them  of  it — the  mind  at  that  time  may 
have  become  so  weak  as  not  to  be  able  to  bear  it,  though  it 
may  have  looked  on  death  unmoved  for  months  previous." 
And  within  an  hour  or  two  of  her  actual  departure,  reading  in 
her  mother's  countenance  the  bitter  consciousness  that  now 
another  of  earth's  strongest,  holiest  ties  was  about  to  be  torn 
asunder,  she  looked  full  in  her  face,  and  said,  "  Mind,  mother, 
mind  !" 

She  read  much  during  her  illness :  "  Drelincourt  on  the 
Fear  of  Death,"  frequently;  "Baxter's  Converse  with  God 
in  Solitude"  was  her  daily  food  ;  it  appeared  quite  necessary 
to  her  comfort,  that  it  and  the  Bible  should  be  on  the  bed  or 
table  by  her.  From  "  Rutherford's  Letters"  she  reaped,  also, 
great  comfort ;  his  quaint  and  forcible  style  suiting  well  her 
weakened    powers  of  attention.     She   generally   expressed   a 


364  LETTERS   TO    HIS    BOSS-. 

wish  to  her  friends,  not  to  read  those  Scriptures  that  referred 
to  God's  vengeance  and  judgments ;  "  He  has  been  so  merciful 
a  God  to  me,  that  I  wish  only  to  hear  of  his  mercy."  She 
employed  much  of  her  time,  also,  after  her  father's  death, 
aided  by  her  sister,  in  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  short-hand 
used  by  him ;  and  to  it  the  editors  are  deeply  indebted  for 
much  valuable  matter,  introduced  in  the  course  of  this  work. 
The  labor  was  great,  but  it  accorded  well  with  the  veneration 
in  which  her  kind  heart  held  the  memory  of  his  tenderness 
and  worth. 

During  the  last  fortnight  she  was  confined  entirely  to  her 
bed,  and  reduced  to  a  state  of  excessive  weakness.  On  the 
evening  of  the  18th  November  she  sunk  into  a  stupor,  from 
which  afterwards  she  partially  recovered.  Her  mind  was  per- 
fectly collected,  and  shortly  after  midnight,  her  clasped  hands 
moving  in  the  attitude  of  prayer,  she  sank  into  the  arms,  we 
doubt  not,  of  her  Saviour  and  her  God. 

"  She  sets  as  sets  the  morning  star,  which  goes 
Eot  down  behind  the  darkened  west,  nor  hides 
Obscured  amoDg  the  tempests  of  the  sky, 
But  melts  away  into  the  light  of  heaven." 

We  now  come  to  Dr.  Waugh's  letters  to  his  sons,  which  con- 
tain many  passages  fitted  to  be  generally  useful ;  and  evince 
how  happily  the  prudence  of  a  wise  and  the  piety  of  a  good 
man  were  united  in  his  character.  He  writes  thus  to  one  of 
them : 

"  Salisbury  Place,  Nov.  9,  1814. 

"  My  dear  Son, — I  have  so  seldom  an  opportunity  of  conversing 
with  you  for  any  length  of  time,  that.  I  am  fain  to  convey  my 
thoughts  to  you  in  this  manner. 

"  Yesterday  I  called  at  Mr.  Ogle's,  in  quest  of  some  suitable 

books  for 's  and  your  perusal  during  the  ensuing  winter. 

He  has  promised  to  look  them  out  and  lay  them  aside  for  me. 
Tytler's  Elements  of  Universal  History  lays  the  foundation  of, 
and  supplies  a  guide  to.  all  your  future  reading  of  the  civil  and 
military  history  of  nations.     But  as  a  Christian,  the  knowledge 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    SONS.  3G5 

of  the  great  events  which  have  befallen  the  church  of  God  is  of 
primary  moment.  Until  I  can  arrange  the  plan,  and  secure,  one 
way  or  other,  the  books  which  relate  to  the  history  of  nations, 
perhaps  you  might  very  profitably  run  through  the  six  octavo  vol- 
umes of  Mosheim  which  I  have  in  my  library.  With  two  hours' 
reading  every  evening,  you  would  go  through  a  volume  in  little 
more  than  a  week.  It  will  open  up  a  field  of  knowledge  the  most 
interesting,  and  be  eminently  subservient  to  your  acquaintance  with 
the  unceasing  care  of  Providence  about  the  interests  of  truth  and 
holiness.  It  will  illustrate  very  strongly  the  Divine  assurance, '  that 
the  eyes  of  the  Lord  are  upon  the  righteous,  and  his  ears  are  open 
to  their  cry.' 

"  For  graver  reading,  and  for  Sabbath  mornings,  you  will  find 
your  heart  delighted  and  improved  by  the  perusal  of  Dr.  Young's 
Night  Thoughts,  especially  his  Fourth  Night;  this,  and  some  of 
the  best  poetry,  such  as  Pope's  Messiah,  Parnell's  Hermit,  and  the 
like,  you  should  make  yourself  entirely  master  of.  They  furnish 
a  suitable  'pabulum  to  the  mind  in  solitude,  preserve  our  imagina- 
tion from  irregular  wanderings,  and  fan  the  flame  of  every  pious 
and  virtuous  principle. 

"  We  did  not  forget  the  return  of  yesterday  :  our  heart's  desire 
and  prayer  to  God  for  you  is,  that  revolving  years  may  ever  find 
you  more  advanced  in  useful  knowledge,  pious  principles  of  action, 
and  solid  happiness. 

"  Divine  Providence  hath  hitherto  watched  over  you.  Your 
mind  is  replenished  with  the  knowledge  of  the  great  truths  of 
Christianity.  You  are  satisfied,  I  hope,  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is 
the  true  Messiah,  and  lean  on  his  atonement  for  the  pardon  of  your 
sins,  and  on  his  righteousness  for  your  title  to  future  blessedness. 
You  love  his  laws,  and  desire  to  have  every  power  of  your  nature 
brought  into  entire  subjection  to  them,  and  to  form  your  temper  on 
his  perfect  pattern. 

"  It  is  '  with  the  heart,'  as  the  apostle  says,  '  man  believeth 
unto  righteousness,  and  with  the  mouth  confession  is  made  unto 
salvation.9  The  Thessalonian  believers  first  gave  themselves 
unto  the  Lord,  devoted  themselves  to  God  and  his  service,  and 
then  they  gave  themselves  to  the  church,  uniting  themselves  to 
the  Christians  as  the  body  of  Christ,  by  an  open  profession  of 
their  faith  and  hope,  engaging  in  divine  strength  to  walk  in  the 
fellowship  of  the  church,  and  to  abound  in  all  the  social  exer- 
cises of  worship,  and  in  all  the  duties  of  a  religious  life.     I  my- 


366  LETTERS    TO    HIS    SONS. 

self  joined  the  church  before  I  reached  your  age ;  and  I  have 
never  had  cause  to  repent  of  the  surrender  I  made  of  myself  to 
the  Lord,  however  much  cause  I  have  daily  had  to  mourn  over  my 
own  unworthiness  and  manifold  sins.  I  would  not,  my  dear  son, 
by  any  means  over-persuade  you,  but  only  beg  of  you  to  make  it  a 
matter  of  very  serious  reflection,  and  of  deep  and  earnest  prayer 
to  God,  to  guide  you  into  the  path  of  duty,  and  confirm  your  steps 
therein.  I  shall  give  you  a  small  practical  treatise  on  the  commun- 
ion, which  you  will  find  useful  in  preparing  your  mind  for  the 
ordinance. 

"  Farewell,  my  very  dear  son.  Every  purchased  blessing  be 
yours !  Your  dear  mother  unites  in  love  with  your  faithful  friend 
and  father." 

The  following  most  valuable  counsels  and  rules  for  the  reg- 
ulation of  a  young  man's  conduct,  were  conveyed  in  a  letter 
to  one  of  his  sons,  on  his  entering  the  university  of  Edin- 
burgh : — 

"  I  cannot,  my  dear  boy,  express  to  you  the  concern  I  feel  for 
your  best,  your  spiritual  interests.  God  is  my  witness  how  near 
it  lies  to  my  heart.  Let  me  impress  the  boundless  importance  of 
eternal  concerns  on  your  young  and  ardent  mind.  I  assure  yon, 
I  do  not  speak  as  a  professional  man ;  but  the  result  of  the  deepest 
inquiry,  of  growing  conviction,  and  every  paternal  feeling,  urge  me 
to  press  them  on  your  most  serious  attention.  Never,  oh  !  never 
neglect  the  first  concern — a  concern  which  gives  importance  to  ex- 
istence, and  by  attending  to  which  we  make  our  existence  a  bless- 
ing. Wisdom's  ways,  I  assure  you  (let  ignorance,  vice,  and  folly 
say  what  they  will),  are  ways  of  pleasantness,  and  all  her  paths 
are  peace.  Such,  I  trust,  you  will  ever  find  them,  as  all  good  men 
have  in  every  age  found  them  to  be. 

"  Above  all  things,  live  near  to  God  in  your  habits  of  think- 
ing, hoping,  trusting,  and  acting.  Study  to  make  friends,  as  far 
as  you  can  honorably  do  it,  of  all  with  whom  you  have  inter- 
course. Never  endanger  the  loss  of  a  friend  by  a  joke,  or  an  at- 
tempt at  sarcastic  wit :  it  is  the  last  thing  a  man  will  forgive  ; 
and  it  is  unspeakably  more  desirable  to  be  loved  than  to  be 
feared.  Beware  of  ever  treating  lightly  or  jocularly  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Bible,  and  ever  cherish  the  deepest  veneration  for 
the  inspiration  of  God's  Holy  Spirit.     Lay  the  foundation  of  all 


LETTERS   TO    HIS   SONS.  3G*7 

worth  and  respectability  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  the  possession  of 
the  image  of  Jesus  Christ.  Be  assured,  my  dear  boy,  that  when 
the  habitual  fear  of  God  does  not  dwell  in  the  heart,  there  is  a 
lamentable  defect  there,  and  some  latent  moral  disease.  Read 
the  Bible  daily,  and  consider  Cod  as  speaking  not  merely  before 
you,  but  to  you.  Listen,  apply,  follow  up  the  results  of  your 
own  convictions  with  suitable  practice.  It  is  a  most  dangerous 
frame  of  mind  to  hold  this  truth  in  unrighteous  bondage,  and  not 
suffer  it  to  exert  its  full  energy  on  the  conscience  and  on  the  temper. 
Beware  of  doubtful,  I  say  not  vicious,  company,  for  I  have  no  fear 
of  that.  Irregular  habits  contracted  at  college,  in  many  instances, 
have  brought  a  man's  gray  iiairs  with  sorrow  to  the  grave. 
Keep  a  memorandum  of  all  your  expenses.  It  is  for  your  sake 
T  wish  this  habit  of  economy  and  thoughtfulness  formed  in 
your  mind.  You  will  thank  me  for  it  when  I  cannot  hear  your 
thanks. 

"But  I  must  leave  off;  the  hour  of  my  ministerial  visitation  is 
come,  and  I  have  a  long  and  laborious  evening's  work.  The  Father 
of  mercies  guide  you,  strengthen  your  mind  in  every  pious  and 
virtuous  principle,  bring  you  forward  to  useful  and  honorable  life, 
and  open  to  your  heart  the  sources  of  consolation  which  redeeming 
love  has  provided,  and  which  the  parched  estate  of  suffering  hu- 
manity makes  so  needful !  I  am,  as  always,  my  dear  son,  your 
most  affectionate  friend  and  father." 

On  one  of  his  sons  attaining  majority,  he  thus  writes  to 
him  : — 

dear  ,  Most  cordially  do  I  congratulate  you  on  your 

arrival  at  the  age  of  man.  From  this  day  may  the  Lord  bless 
you  in  a  manner  unfelt  by  you  before  !  Make  on  this  day  an 
affectionate  and  decided  choice  of  your  father's  God  as  your  God. 
Surrender  your  heart  to  him,  to  be  sanctified  and  preserved  from 
all  evil.  Look  back  with  devout  gratitude  on  the  unnumbered 
and  unmarked  mercies  which  have  accompanied  you  all  your 
life  long ;  and  let  your  gratitude  animate  you  to  a  course  of 
steady  obedience  to  the  divine  law.  Lcok  back  with  unfeigned 
contrition  and  grief  on  your  past  sins,  and  betake  yourself  to 
the  blood  of  the  Lamb  for  pardon  and  for  peace.  Set  before 
your  mind  the  honorable  path  of  piety,  probity,  and  filial  affection, 
and  ever    connect  your  true  happiness  with  the    progress    you 


368  LETTERS   TO    HIS    SONS. 

make  in  that  path.  Be  kind  to  your  excellent  mother  and  to 
your  dear  sisters,  and  the  dew  of  heaven  will  rest  upon  your  own 
habitation. 

"  Now  you  are  come  to  man's  estate,  let  your  conduct  be 
marked  with  dignified  steadiness  in  the  career  of  goodness,  and 
cherish  the  hope  of  the  glory  which  will  illumine  the  close  of  such 
a  course. 

"The  Bible  I  have  put  into  your  hands  this  morning  I  most 
earnestly  commend  to  your  daily  perusal.  You  will  listen  to  its 
admonitions,  encouragements,  and  laws,  when  my  head  is  under 
the  clods  of  the  valley.  It  is  the  revelation  of  divine  mercy  and 
love  to  a  perishing  world.  I  commend  you  to  God,  to  whose 
service  you  were  dedicated  in  baptism,  and  to  the  word  of  his 
grace.  May  you  be  preserved  blameless  to  the  day  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  !     I  ever  am  your  most  affectionate  father." 

To  the  same  son  he  further  writes : — 

"  The  providence  of  God  seems  to  call  your  gravest  and  most 
serious  attention  to  a  deeply  interesting  subject :  it  is  the  taking 
an  open  and  decided  part  in  regard  to  the  claims  of  Christianity. 
If  your  mind  be  satisfied  as  to  the  divine  origin  of  our  religion, 
justice  to  the  character  of  the  Son  of  God  demands  that  you 
should  make  a  public  profession  of  that  conviction,  and  unite 
yourself  to  the  visible  church.  Though  such  a  measure  would 
give  more  pure  joy  to  your  excellent  mother's  heart  and  mine 
than  gold  or  silver  could  impart,  yet  let  not  this  motive  influence 
you.  It  is  your  own  personal  affair.  Look  up  to  God  for  divine 
direction.  Consecrate  a  reasonable  measure  of  time  to  deep 
and  searching  inquiry  into  the  matter ;  and  may  the  Father  of 
lights  guide  your  steps,  and  lead  your  mind  to  a  safe  conclusion  ! 
I  shall  not  cease  to  pray  for  you.  If  you  see  things  in  the 
light  in  which  they  should  be  viewed,  you  will  yield  yourself  to 
the  Lord,  as  the  master  of  your  service  and  the  happiness  of  your 
life. 

"  The  theme  of  to-morrow,  in  the  course  of  the  history,  is  the 
evidence  of  the  resurrection  of  our  blessed  Lord, — a  theme  infi- 
nitely dear  to  our  hearts.  It  discloses  to  us  scenes  of  existence 
pure  and  permanent,  and  overflowing  with  unmixed  joy.  These 
prospects,  as  they  open  on  the  mind,  ennoble,  purify,  and  elevate 
our  thoughts  above    everything    low  and   vulgar, — above    every 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    SONS.  3G9 

thing  which  is  unsuitable  to  our  rational  nature  and  our  most 
sacred  joys.  I  assure  you,  my  dear ,  I  speak  not  as  a  pro- 
fessional man  when  I  say,  that  these  are  the  objects  which,  in  a 
long  and  very  diversified  life,  and  amid  much  inward  suffering, 
which  friendship  itself  has  never  listened  to  nor  heard,  have 
supported,  and  soothed,  and  invigorated  my  soul,  and  borne  me 
onward.  Were  my  heart  disposed  to  implore  on  your  head  one 
blessing  richer  than  all  others,  it  would  be  the  well-grounded  and 
elevating  hope  of  a  blessed  immortality.  God,  I  humbly  trust,  will 
create,  cherish,  and  preserve  this  hope  in  your  mind,  and  then  all 
shall  be  well." 

In  another  letter  : — 

"  God  has  laid  you  under  the  strongest  obligations  to  love, 
obey,  and  serve  him.  I  am  sure  your  heart  will  tenderly  feel 
them,  and  incline  you  to  call  him  your  own  Father  and  your 
own  God.  O  my  dear  son  !  live  near  to  him  in  your  thoughts, 
desires,  and  hopes.  Consider  every  earthly  friend  as  the  instru- 
ment of  his  goodness,  and  as  the  medium  of  his  grace  and  love. 
There  was  a  thought  that  powerfully  burst  in  upon  my  mind  on 
reading  your  account ;  it  was  this,  that  by  this  measure  Divine 
Providence  may  be  preparing  you  for  the  performance  of  those 
duties  which  you  will  owe  to  your  excellent  mother  and  sisters 
when  I  am  no  more.  I  repose  confidence  in  your  filial  and  bro- 
therly affection ;  and  this  confidence  affords  support  and  consolation 
to  my  mind." 

These  letters  are  excellent  models  of  parental  counsel, — so 
mild  in  persuasion,  so  powerful  in  excitement,  and  so  solemn  in 
entreaty  ;  and  most  happy  is  it  when  a  parent  can,  like  Dr. 
Waugh,  recommend  religion  to  his  children  as  the  blessing 
of  his  life — when  its  precepts  arc  the  rule  of  his  conduct,  and 
its  promises  his  hope  for  futurity.  It  may  be  imagined  how 
highly  prized  were  the  counsels  of  such  a  parent,  where  gen- 
tleness beautified  the  manners,  charity  melted  the  heart,  and 
awe  sanctified  the  whole  deportment.  When  such  counsels 
are  not  so  esteemed,  there  is  too  much  cause  to  suspect  that 
harshness  and  terror  have  been  employed  to  enforce  them,  or 

16* 


370  FAMILY   GATHERINGS. 

that  the  monitor's  heart  and  life  have  been  strangers  to  their 
power. 

It  is  most  interesting  to  mark  in  these  letters  the  union  of 
piety  so  fervent  with  so  much  practical  wisdom  and  prudence. 
Many  good  men  have  failed  in  their  counsels  to  their  children 
as  to  the  affairs  of  this  life,  through  a  defect  in  sagacity,  from 
the  seclusion  in  which  they  lived,  or  an  absurd  idea  that  such 
concerns  were  beneath  their  notice.  But  Dr.  \Vaugh  knew 
human  nature  and  human  life  thoroughly  ;  and  while  earnest- 
ly, and  above  all  things,  directing  the  aspirations  of  his 
children  to  their  "better  birth-right,"  he  neglected  not  the 
humbler  cares  and  duties  connected  with  their  earthly  wel- 
fare. 

It  was  customary  for  Dr.  Waugh's  children  to  meet  together 
under  his  roof  on  particular  occasions  ;  and  these  family  gather- 
ings were  affectionately  kept  up,  not  only  during  their  youthful 
years,  but  also  after  the  cares  and  duties  of  active  life,  and  the 
separate  sympathies  of  new  social  ties,  had  withdrawn  many  of 
them  from  the  paternal  hearth.  Without  differing  in  external 
circumstances  from  other  family  parties  of  a  like  social  nature, 
they  assumed,  under  his  patriarchal  eye,  a  character  peculiarly 
interesting  and  delightful.  Dr.  Waugh  himself,  unless  called 
from  home  by  some  solemn  duty  or  unexpected  contingency, 
never  failed  to  be  present,  and  diffused  over  the  circle  the 
radiance  of  his  own  grateful  spirit ;  leading  them  back,  in  his 
felicitous  way,  over  the  incidents  of  their  early  days,  and  the 
dealings  of  Providence  wi^h  each  and  all  of  them  ;  lighting 
up  grave  reflections  with  innocent  pleasantry  and  facetious 
anecdote  ;  growing  young  again  in  heart  amidst  his  children's 
hilarity — delighting  all,  and  with  all  delighted — yet  ever 
mingling  wisdom  with  their  mirth.  Such  is  the  happy  pic- 
ture his  family  love  to  look  back  upon.  On  one  of  these  occa- 
sions, when  nine  of  his  children  were  present,  being  detained 
at  a  distance  by  peculiar  circumstances,  he  addressed  this  letter 
to  them : — 


FAMILY    GATHERINGS.  37 1 

"  50,  King's  Road,  Brighton, 
August  24,  1829. 
"  My  beloved  Children, — I  feel  my  heart  glad  in  the  antici- 
pation of  your  meeting  to-morrow  under  your  aged  father's 
humble  roof.  My  heart  and  its  best  affections  are  with  you. 
What  ground  of  gratitude  hath  Divine  Providence  supplied  to 
me  in  your  preservation,  in  the  culture  of  your  minds,  in  the 
respectable  station  in  society  into  which  God's  paternal  care 
lias  introduced  you,  and  in  the  reasonable  prospects  of  honora- 
ble conduct  and  usefulness  which  open  upon  our  minds  in  your 
future  career.  Peace  and  love  the  most  solid  and  fraternal  take 
entire  possession  of  your  souls,  and  foul  fa>  the  breath  of  low 
jealousy  that  in  evil  hour  shall  ever  blight  the  blossom  !  Every 
purchased  and  promised  blessing  be  in  your  cup  !  By  the  gentle 
but  holy  and  powerful  ligature  of  heavenly  affection,  may  you 
and  yours  be  ever  bound  together !  Let  the  celestial  plant  take 
deep  root  in  your  bosoms ;  let  your  prayers  for  each  other  fan 
the  growing  branches  :  may  the  breath  of  temptation  only  shake 
it  into  strength  !  May  the  virtues  of  your  lives  shed  fragrance 
on  the  name  you  bear,  and  awaken  your  offspring  to  the  imita- 
tion of  paternal  worth  !— -Your  affectionate  father  and  faithful 
friend." 

We  see  in  this  letter  how  similar  his  feelings  were  to  those 
of  Job,  who,  when  his  sons  feasted  in  each  other's  houses,  and 
called  for  their  sisters  to  partake  with  them,  sent  and  sanctified 
them,  and  rose  up  early  in  the  morning,  and  offered  burnt 
offerings  according  to  the  number  of  them  all. 

We  may  here  mention  a  circumstance  which  shows  how 
very  amiable  he  was  in  his  family,  and  how  their  happiness 
was  bound  up  in  him.  When  it  was  deemed  necessary  that 
a  deputation  of  the  directors  of  the  London  Missionary  Society 
should  go  to  the  South  Seas,  to  examine  the  state  of  the  mis- 
sion there,  a  wish  was  very  generally  felt  that  Dr.  Waugh 
should  be  at  the  head  of  it,  and  the  happiest  results  were  an- 
ticipated from  the  influence  of  his  wisdom  and  piety.  The 
appointment  being  declined  by  him,  on  account  of  his  infir- 
mities and  his  numerous  family,  some  of  the  brethren  were 
sent  to  urge  his  consent,  and  to  endeavor  to  reconcile  Mrs. 


372  FAMILY    GATHERINGS. 

Waugh  and  the  family  to  the  temporary  separation.  Assu- 
rances were  to  be  given  of  suitable  support  to  them  in  his 
absence,  and  in  case  of  his  demise.  When  these  gentlemen 
came  to  the  house,  and  beheld  him  surrounded  by  his  chil- 
dren, clinging  to  him  with  such  affectionate  dependence,  they 
were  unable  to  make  the  proposal,  and  said  they  had  not 
hearts  stern  enough  to  ask  him  to  make  the  sacrifice.  There 
may  have  been  cases  in  which  such  a  separation  was  neces- 
sary, and  in  which  Dr.  Waugh  would  have  submitted  to  it ; 
but  the  necessity  here  was  not  so  imperious.  Others  could 
be  obtained,  well  qualified  for  the  task,  on  whom  home  and 
the  pastoral  duties  in  a  congregation  had  not  such  powerful 
claims.  There  may  be  more  splendor  in  such  a  sacrifice,  but 
there  is  certainly  as  much  beauty  in  the  tenderness  of  a  father's 
love,  and  in  the  ministrations  of  a  pastor's  care. 

We  are  happy  to  have  it  in  our  power  to  add  to  these  illus- 
trations of  his  domestic  character,  the  following  sketch  of 
it,  drawn  by  one  of  his  daughters,  at  our  request.  While  the 
reader  cannot  but  be  charmed  with  its  beauty,  the  most  en- 
tire reliance  may  be  placed  on  its  correctness  and  truth  ;  and 
we  feel  that  we  cannot  do  better  than  insert  the  whole  of  the 
letter  :— 


"  My  dear  Friend, — What  shall  I  say  to  your  request  ?  The 
same  delightful  but  difficult  task  has  been  proposed  to  me  by  Mr. 
Hay,  and  by  our  own  family ;  but  I  feel  that  something  is  ex- 
pected from  me  which  I  am  altogether  incompetent  to  execute 
as  it  should  be.  The  unaffected  reply  of  my  heart  is, '  What  am 
I,  that  I  should  put  forth  my  hand  to  such  a  work  ?'  I  have  a 
large  collection  of  my  beloved  father's  letters,  but  they  are  all  of 
a  character  too  domestic,  too  private  for  the  public  eye  :  they 
cannot,  therefore,  be  rendered  available  for  the  purpose  you  have 
in  view.  The  little  I  can,  however,  I  shall  most  willingly  at- 
tempt. That  little  only  amounts  to  the  following  brief  and 
simple  notices  of  his  domestic  character,  which,  if  they  may 
serve  merely  to  aid  your  own  recollections,  or  in  any  other  way 
(without  reference  to  the  humble  writer)  assist  you  to  illustrate 
any  portion  of  the  memoir,  I  shall  rejoice,  gratefully  rejoice,  to 


HIS   DOMESTIC    CHARACTER.  373 

have  Contributed,  infinitely  as  they  fall  short  of  what  I  could  have 
wished  to  have  done. 

"  My  father  in  his  family !  lie  was  so  tender,  that  he  fondled 
and  sported  with  his  children,  while  he  always  bore  about  him 
that  unaffected  dignity  of  manner  that  even  the  youngest  of  us 
dared  not  take  any  unsuitable  liberty  with  him.  This  was  not 
the  result  of  any  harsh  assumption  of  superiority  on  his  part ; 
for  how  often  have  I  heard  him  say  to  us,  '  My  dear  children, 
never  tell  people  that  they  must  respect  you ;  leave  that  to  them  : 
the  worst  man  in  the  world  will  respect  you  if  you  deserve  it.' 
He  was  remarkably  gentle  with  his  children :  seldom  corrected 
us ;  and  took  no  pleasure  in  speaking  of  our  faults,  but  great 
delight  in  commending  us.  He  often  prayed  with  us  in  private. 
He  prized,  and  greatly  inculcated,  tenderness  and  a  forgiving- 
spirit,  and  encouraged  an  affectionate  manner  at  meeting  and  part- 
ing. He  never  seemed  to  suppose  us  capable  of  deliberately 
injuring  each  other,  and  was  as  far  removed  as  possible  from  all 
mean  jealousies  and  suspicions.  He  measured  us  all  by  his  own 
noble  nature,  and  we  therefore  bitterly  felt  incurring  his  displeasure, 
as  a  forfeiture  of  that  esteem  in  which  we  thought  it  our  highest 
honor  to  live.  But  there  is  nothing  I  feel  so  difficult  to  delineate 
as  my  father  surrounded  by  his  children — at  the  same  moment 
the  playmate  and  the  revered  parent.  We  never  could  lose 
sight  of  his  condescension,  and  this  made  us  love  him  the 
more.  We  all  spoke  out  our  opinions  frankly,  and  were  put  right, 
but  never  blamed  nor  ridiculed.  One  little  trait  speaks  his  per- 
fect freedom  from  all  selfish  indulgence.  He  was  often  confined 
to  his  room,  and  when  so,  the  children  were  always  absent  during 
his  meals,  because,  thinking  he  had  some  delicacy,  nothing 
could  prevent  him  feeding  us  all  round  :  '  I  cannot  eat  my  morsel 
alone,'  he  would  say;  and  it  was  true.  As  soon  as  he  could 
join  the  family,  but  while  he  was  still  dieted  as  an  invalid,  we  had 
always  the  merriest  dinners.  I  think  I  see  now  the  arch  smile,  as, 
fixing  his  bright  eyes  on  my  mother,  he  tried  to  divert  her  attention 
from  his  laden  fork,  that  was  slily  passing  and  repassing  amongst 
us.  I  merely  mention  this,  as  illustrative  of  the  playful  kindli- 
ness of  his  spirit,  which,  like  his  other  graces,  pervaded  the  whole 
man. 

"  There  was  a  high  tone  of  morality  about  him,  that  was,  I 
hesitate  not  to  say  it,  at  all  times  consistent.  He  could  not  feel 
or  act  dishonorably :  his  soul  appeared  reckless  as  to  the  conse- 


374  SKETCH    OF    HIS    DOMESTIC    CHARACTER 

quences  of  straight-forward,  liberal,  tender  conduct.  This,  I 
believe,  was  not  the  fruit  of  a  renewed  nature  only,  but  of  a  con- 
stitutional temperament,  naturally  ingenuous,  independent,  and  most 
susceptible.  I  may  here  mention  the  advice  he  gave  one  of  my 
younger  brothers,  on  his  applying  to  him  for  an  addition  to  his  usual 
pocket-money,  in  order  to  meet  the  expenses  connected  with  some 
youthful  frolic.  '  There  are  three  rules  by  which  you  must  be  led, 
my  dear  lad,  in  the  spending  of  your  money.  The  first  is,  you  must 
ascertain  how  far  the  purpose  for  which  you  are  incurring  expense 
agrees  with  a  good  conscience  ;  for  you  know  you  must  never — 
never  engage  in  anything  on  which  you  cannot,  in  your  prayers 
at  night,  ask  the  blessing  of  God  to  rest.  The  second  is,  you 
must  ascertain  how  far  your  little  money  will  enable  you  to  join 
others  in  their  amusement.  And  the  third  is  one  which,  in  its 
importance,  yields  only  to  the  first  rule.  It  is  this  :  when  you 
have  incurred  the  liability,  insist  upon  paying  your  share,  if  you 
should  pawn  your  coat  for  the  purpose  ;  for,  poor  man  as  I  am, 
I  would  rather  see  you  sweeping  the  crossing  at  Quebec  Street, 
than  I  would  put  it  in  the  power  of  any  one  to  say,  that  a  son  of 
mine  had  meanly  shirked  from  his  engagement  and  his  word,' 
i  Why  go  about  the  bush  in  your  proceedings  ?'  he  would  say. 
'  God  will  bring  his  purpose  to  pass,  and  leave  you  to  eat  the 
fruit  of  weariness,  entanglement,  and  disgrace,  for  your  crooked 
policy.  Only  trust  that  God  is  wiser  than  you,  and  that  he  knows 
the  shortest  road  to  his  own  purposes.'  Thus  he  spake,  and  thus 
he  acted. 

"  At  one  period,  about  the  middle  of  his  life,  his  bodily  ailments 
subjected  him  to  great  variation  of  animal  spirits,  and  he  then 
sometimes  suffered  much  from  fits  of  depression  ;  but  during  these 
he  never  was  selfish  or  unkind.  We  missed  the  sunny  smile  that 
cast  a  brilliancy  over  the  whole  countenance ;  but  the  sadness 
that  succeeded  excited  only  extraordinary  sympathy  and  tender- 
ness. 

"  When  I  consider  the  natural  frankness  of  his  temper,  I  am 
surprised  at  his  perfect  reservedness  on  all  matters  relating  to 
the  workings  of  his  own  mind.  He  took  no  pleasure  in  speaking 
of  himself;  and  when  circumstances  forced  it  upon  him,  he  al- 
ways did  it  with  so  much  humor,  and  with  such  a  happy  turn 
of  compliment  to  the  hearer,  or  ridicule  of  himself,  that  no  one 
dared,  even  in  thought,  to  impute  vanity  to  him.  In  truth,  we 
never  were  more  delighted  than  when  we  could  entrap  him  to 


BY    ONE    OF    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  3*75 

speak  of  himself.  His  griefs  were  poured  into  the  ear  of  Deity 
alone.  I  do  not  suppose  that  even  my  beloved  mother  so  liber- 
ally shared  his  griefs  as  his  joys.  I  never  heard  of  my  father's 
Christian  experience  in  any  other  way  than  through  his  counsels, 
which  were  always  supported  by  the  assurance  that  we  should 
find  God  even  better  than  his  word.  His  zeal,  his  activity, 
his  devotedness,  his  love  of  the  brethren,  his  charity,  his  ten- 
derness for  poor  degraded  human  nature,  were  the  tongues  with 
which  he  told  the  world  what  '  great  things  God  had  done  for  his 
soul.' 

"  His  tenderness  of  heart  was  proof  against  all  his  knowledge 
of  the  world  and  the  clear  light  of  his  understanding.  Saturday 
was  his  day  at  home,  and  it  was  usually  the  business  of  his 
children  to  carry  the  messages  to  the  study.  The  constant 
succession  of  miserable-looking  objects  that  appealed  to  him  on 
that  day  might  have  excused  many  an  unsatisfied  demand ;  but 
no  one  turned  from  his  humble  roof  unserved.  Many  a  known 
cheat  presented  himself,  and  received  a  sharp  rebuke,  and  what 
appeared  a  very  decisive  refusal ;  but  we  had  never  half  de- 
scended the  stairs  ere  his  heart  smote  him,  and  he  would  call 
after  us — '  Here,  give  the  poor  fellow  that ;  on  his  own  head  be 
the  sin.'  His  pity,  his  mercy,  overcame  every  argument.  That 
mercy  which  was  his  darling  theme  in  the  pulpit,  was  his  darling 
virtue  out  of  it.  He  would  say, '  We  who  live  by  mercy,  how  dare 
we  be  unmerciful !' 

"  His  universal  charity  was  the  result  of  Divine  light  acting 
upon  a  tender  and  noble  temper.  Christianity  apart,  he  never 
would  have  been  a  feeder  upon  other  men's  corruptions ;  but 
his  nature  was  expanded,  puritied,  and  softened  by  knowledge 
from  on  high.  His  perfect  guartledness  of  speech  was  not  an 
out-door  garment ;  it  was  a  robe  of  love,  and  pity,  and  humility, 
that  he  never  cast  from  him  in  the  most  unrestrained  intercourse 
of  domestic  privacy.  We  never  were  allowed  to  speak  of  char- 
acter, unless  we  were  commending.  Sometimes  we  were  im- 
patient at  this ;  but  no  matter  :  he  would  say,  '  Speak  of  your 
own  corruptions,  but  whisht !  whisht !  about  other  folk.'  I  am 
quite  satisfied  that  he  must,  early  in  life,  have  so  studied  his 
relative  situation  to  God  and  to  his  fellow-creatures,  as  to  have 
clearly  discerned  the  blindness  and  malignity  of  dwelling  on 
corruptions  in  others,  to  the  existence  of  which,  in  his  own  heart, 
he  was  so  tenderly  alive.     Besides  this,  there  was  that  of  dignity 


37G  SKETCH    OF    HIS    DOMESTIC    CHARACTER 

within  him  that  contemned  such  uncharitable  indulgence.  I 
can  truly  say,  he  never  put  it  in  our  power  to  betray  him  ;  and 
the  world  would  smile  if  they  knew  the  numerous  instances 
wherein  the  young  folks  of  his  household  felt  kindly  towards 
characters  whom  he,  as  well  as  the  public,  knew  in  a  very  dif- 
ferent light.  Not  that  he  indiscriminately  praised ;  no,  he  never 
compromised  his  integrity;  but  by  laying  hold  of  every  char- 
acter by  the  favorable  side  (and  who  but  presents  such  ?)  he 
made  the  world  appear  to  us,  what,  I  am  sorry  to  add,  I  have  not 
found  it. 

"  Of  my  father  it  may  most  truly  be  said,  that  he  was  '  given 
to  hospitality,'  and  that  at  times  when  the  exercise  of  the  virtue 
was  neither  strictly  necessary  nor  convenient.  His  house,  though 
small,  and  scarcely  affording  accommodation  to  his  own  family, 
was  ever  open  to  his  brethren,  especially  those  of  his  own  com- 
munion, from  Scotland  ;  and  no  sooner  was  he  apprised  of  their 
intended  visit  to  London,  than,  if  at  all  consistent  with  previous 
domestic  arrangements  (and  he  was  not  veiy  particular  on  this 
point),  he  hastened  to  offer  them,  with  a  sincerity  of  invitation 
that  could  not  be  mistaken,  a  place  at  his  family  board,  and  a 
bed  under  his  roof;  though  his  pressing  avocations  necessarily 
called  him  so  constantly  from  home  during  the  day,  that  he  him- 
self seldom  enjoyed  the  pleasure  of  their  society,  or  was  able 
to  press  his  kindly  offices  upon  them,  till  late  at  night,  on  his 
return.  Well  do  I  remember  with  what  innocent  raillery  he  used 
frequently  to  demolish  the  obstructions  which  our  views  of  do- 
mestic comfort  might  occasionally  place  in  the  way  of  such  invi- 
tations, with  what  affectionate  warmth  he  would  '  welcome  the 
new-comer,'  and  the  pain  his  mind  felt  when  'his  brother  from 
the  North,'  with  his  parting  blessing  on  his  head,  returned  back 
to  his  own  family  and  people.  I  am  sure  that  many  of  those 
who  were  thus  welcomed  by  him  to  London  and  from  whom  he 
thus  parted,  will  willingly  bear  their  testimony  to  the  justness 
of  this  very  imperfect  tribute  to  the  active  kindness  of  him  who  is 
gone. 

"  In  addition  to  his  onerous  public  and  professional  duties,  his 
benevolence  led  him  to  undertake  (or  at  all  events  to  execute) 
a  multiplicity  of  friendly  offices,  which  frequently  encroached 
deeply  upon  his  time.  Among  these  were  executorial  trusts, 
which  were  numerous  and  troublesome,  often  involving  him  in 
all  the  responsible  duties  of  a  trustee  to  whom  was  committed 


BY    ONE    OF    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  377 

the  education  and  bringing  up  of  children.  Another  charge  con- 
stantly devolving  upon  him  was  the  introduction  into  business, 
&c.  of  young  men,  recommended  or  confided  to  his  care  by 
friends  in  Scotland.  He  used  to  say,  that  he  was  quite  ashamed 
of  the  obligations  under  which  he  laid  himself  in  furthering  the 
views  of  his  correspondents,  many  of  whom  were  so  inconsiderate 
as  to  make  him  in  a  manner  their  London  agent,  even  in  trifling 
concerns,  and  that  to  an  extent  exceedingly  oppressive.  He 
sometimes  expressed  himself  amazed  at  the  various  applications 
made  to  him,  and  would  say,  '  I  really  wonder  who  these  country 
folks  think  I  am,  and  how  I  am  to  get  time  to  attend  to  all  their 
wants ;'  but  he  was  never  known  to  neglect  a  single  application, 
and  his  family  were  consequently  often  engaged  for  hours  writing 
for  him  ;  for,  in  advanced  life,  his  hand  being  very  unsteady, 
writing  was  the  most  laborious  part  of  his  employment.  Indeed, 
his  extensive  correspondence  (including  his  wide  and  constant 
intercourse  with  ministers  in  all  parts  of  the  kingdom),  obliged 
him  to  draw  so  largely  upon  the  time  of  the  members  of  his  own 
family,  that  even  they  could  sometimes  scarcely  refrain  from 
murmuring  at  the  comparatively  small,  but  still  large,  share  of 
labor  thus  imposed  on  them.  Even  at  meal-time,  and  frequent- 
ly, if  he  could  get  them  around  him,  before  breakfast,  would 
he  be  busied  either  in  writing  or  dictating;  and  no  sooner  did 
a  son  enffr  his  study  than,  after  a  hurried  welcome,  his  uni- 
form request  was — 'Now  that's  a  guid  lad,  you're  just  come  in 
time  ;  sit  down,  and  take  the  pen  there ;  only  five  minutes,  posi- 
tively.' But  this  five  minutes  was  generally  extended  to  near 
an  hour.  On  the  subject  of  his  correspondence,  I  shall  only 
add,  that  latterly  (till  within  two  years  of  his  death),  on  his 
return  home  in  the  evening,  his  letter-box  was  generally  full, 
containing  ten  or  twelve  letters;  and  such  was  his  devotion  to 
this  duty,  that  not  a  word  would  he  say  on  general  matters 
till  all  these  letters  were  attended  to.  And,  in  truth,  so  numer- 
ous were  his  avocations,  that,  knowing  how  jealously  his  family 
watched  his  health,  and  to  escape  the  strong  opposition  they 
gave  to  such  exertions,  he  scarcely  ever  mentioned  one  half  of 
them  to  his  children.  In  all  the  above  labors  he  himself  acted 
generally  as  if  the  whole  of  the  detail  devolved  on  himself;  yet, 
notwithstanding  all  this,  we  could  not  raise  a  blush  on  his  cheek 
so  soon  as  by  praising  his  exertions  or  taking  notice  of  his 
popularity.      His    utmost    self-complacency    only    allowed    him 


378  SKETCH    OF    HIS    DOMESTIC    CHARACTER 

to  say,  '  Really,  I  fear  that  I  shall  have  a  rap  over  the  knuckles 
yet.' 

"  From  my  earliest  remembrance  of  my  revered  father,  every  do- 
mestic indulgence,  was  made  to  yield  to  public  duty.  So  prompt 
was  he  in  this,  that  it  never  appeared  to  be  made  a  question  in  his 
mind :  this  was  evident,  from  his  never  talking  or  boasting  of  it. 
Preaching,  prayer  and  society  meetings,  visiting  the  sick,  attending 
to  the  young  and  the  poor,  were  the  daily  food  of  his  active  mind. 
No  one  had  a  keener  relish  than  he  for  the  pleasures  of  social 
intercourse,  and  I  need  not  tell  you  of  the  life  and  benevolence  his 
countenance  always  inspired.  But  this  most  alluring  enjoyment 
never  led  him  to  sacrifice  one  sacred  duty,  however  humble  the 
abode  into  which  that  duty  might  lead  him.  It  was  this  following 
of  conscience  that  led  him  into  so  much  peace.  I  never  remem- 
ber hearing  him  accuse  himself  of  neglecting  a  duty  for  the  sake 
of  a  pleasure. 

"  His  punctuality  was  a  very  decided  virtue.  Living  in  a  large 
city,  where  so  much  time  was  necessarily  lost  in  going  from  place 
to  place,  he  soon  found  the  absolute  necessity  of  punctuality,  and 
practised  it  scrupulously.  He  was  often  irritated  by  the  careless- 
ness of  others  on  this  point,  and  used  to  say,  no  man  had  a  right 
to  rob  another  of  his  time.  In  his  ministerial  visitations  he  al- 
ways appointed  the  exact  hour,  and  would  upon  no  account  in- 
fringe it,  knowing  that  a  slight  inattention  to  this  mfrtter  might 
rob  a  poor  man  of  an  hour's  wages.  One  rule  he  made,  that  of 
visiting  his  poor  in  the  evenings,  in  order  to  save  them  from  losing 
their  work.  This  was  done  at  a  vast  expense  of  toil  and  incon- 
venience to  himself ;  and  well  I  remember  with  what  anxiety  we 
used  to  listen  for  his  heavy  wearied  footstep  returning  home,  be- 
tween ten  and  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  from  his  visits  in  garrets  and 
kitchens. 

"  But  the  Sabbath  was  his  day  of  delight.  He  was  early  up 
in  the  morning,  and  gave  no  rest  to  his  household  till  he  had 
rung  for  us  all.  We  used  to  complain  sometimes  of  being  dis- 
composed by  this,  and  we  at  last  got  him  persuaded  to  desist  from 
it,  upon  the  express  condition  that  we  should  be  all  assembled  at 
his  stated  hour.  It  was  most  amusing  to  see  him,  for  the  first 
few  mornings,  ready  half  an  hour  before  the  time,  and,  within  the 
last  five  minutes,  standing  with  the  bell-rope  in  his  hand,  ready 
to  give  us  a  hearty  peal  if  we  had  been  a  moment  beyond  the 
time.     But  we  took  care  not  to  break  our  engagement.     Two 


BY    ONE    OF    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  379 

quiet  hours  in  the  vestry  before  the  public  services  commenced 
were  essential  to  his  comfort.  His  spirit  seemed  always  pecu- 
liarly sanctified  on  the  Sabbath  mornings ;  he  spoke  little,  and  did 
not  appear  tp  take  his  usual  interest  in  conversation.  If  anything 
was  said  not  so  suitable  to  the  day,  his  reproof  was,  '  Be  spiritu- 
ally minded  ;  be  spiritually  minded.'  Before  leaving  home,  he 
invariably  retired  to  his  back-parlor  for  prayer,  but  so  quietly  as 
if  he  did  not  wish  it  noticed.  When  we  met  again  in  the  evening, 
the  expression  of  his  holy  joy  was  different.  In  the  morning  he 
was  all  humility  and  dependance,  and  jealous  of  everything  that 
might  withdraw  his  soul  from  the  near  contemplation  of  the 
God  whose  minister  he  was  ;  in  the  evening  he  was  all  gratitude 
and  joy.  He  never  spoke  of  Sabbath  labors.  No  ;  three  services 
were  not  half  the  demands  his  heart  made  upon  him.  Like 
David,  he  would,  had  his  strength  allowed,  have  served  God  seven 
times  a  day.  It  seemed  painful  for  him  to  retire  from  the  sanc- 
tuary, and  he  did  it  blessing  God,  who  had  made  him  to  minister 
in  holy  things.  Our  family  meeting  was  always  most  numer- 
ous on  that  night,  and  from  our  beloved  mother  to  the  youngest 
child,  he  was  the  object  of  our  solicitude.  He  was  always  in 
best  spirits  when  he  had  done  the  whole  work  himself:  if  any 
one  had  shared  it  with  him,  he  never  seemed  quite  satisfied,  and 
always  more  fatigued.  His  topics  were,  generally,  eliciting  from 
us  what  we  remembered  of  the  sermons,  accounts  of  the  poor  or 
sick,  expressions  of  his  gratitude  to  his  congregation  for  their 
surprising  exertions  and  constantly  anticipating  love  for  all  his 
concerns,  anecdotes  of  good  men,  and  of  matters  connected  with 
the  lovely  scenery  of  his  youth.  The  latter  subject  was  one  to 
which  his  mind  always  turned  for  refreshment  when  exhausted 
either  by  labor  or  sickness.  On  these  occasions  he  spoke  of  it 
as  his  highest  ambition  to  retire,  '  when  his  folk  grew  tired  of  the 
auld  man,  to  Auld  Meuross  [Melrose],'  where  on  fine  sunny  days 
(so  he  indulged  his  day-dream)  he  would  sit  with  my  mother  on 
one  side,  and  a  daughter  reading  to  him  on  the  other,  and  'just 
slip  frae  this  world's  heaven  to  a  better.'  His  heart  on  these 
occasions  was  so  overflowing  with  gratitude,  that  he  would  fre- 
quently burst  out  with  such  expressions  as  these — '  What  a  good 
and  gracious  Father  we  serve  !  Oh,  my  dears,  love  God,  if  you 
would  be  really  happy  !'  His  family  prayer  was  just  a  tissue  of 
grateful  fervor  for  the  blessings  of  the  s.-inctuary.  The  exertion, 
which  his  ardent  spirit  would  not  allow  him  to  feel,  told  upon  him, 


380  SKETCH    OF    HIS    DOMESTIC    CHARACTER 

however,  and  he  generally  rested  ill  on  that  night ;  but  this  was 
no  hindrance  to  his  rising  early  the  next  morning  to  join  the 
Committee  of  the  Missionary  Society,  some  miles  distant,  from 
which  nothing  but  serious  illness  ever  detained  him.  The  refresh- 
ing fountain  of  the  Sabbath  only  braced  his  soul  anew  to  run  in  the 
service  of  his  Master. 

"  So  far  as  I  can  judge,  my  beloved  father's  taste  was  of  the 
most  correct  and  delicate  kind.  He  was  most  intimately  acquaint- 
ed with  the  classical  literature  of  our  own  country,  and  was  its 
enthusiastic  admirer.  He  took  great  pains  in  making  his  children 
commit  to  memory  his  favorite  passages.  It  was  delightful  to  be 
in  the  country  with  him.  He  truly  looked  on  nature  with  a  poet's 
eye ;  and  more  than  that,  he  looked  through  nature  up  to  nature's 
God.  The  beauty  of  the  landscape  hushed  him  to  repose,  as  it 
were,  on  the  bosom  of  his  God,  and  drew  tears  of  wondering  hu- 
mility and  admiration  ;  while  its  more  sublime  features  roused  him 
on  the  side  of  his  Maker,  elevated  his  faith,  and,  causing  him  to 
feel  his  alliance  with  a  present  Deity,  threw  over  his  whole 
countenance  and  form  the  lustre  of  that  truth — '  Thou  hast  made 
him  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  thou  hast  crowned  him  with 
glory  and  honor.'  His  time  for  reading  was  past  before  I  can 
trace  him  ;  for.  prior  to  that,  he  had  devoted  himself  to  public  duty : 
but  that  he  must  have  at  one  time  read  largely,  was  evident  from 
the  stores  of  his  memory.  For  several  years  before  my  brothers 
left  us,  and  for  the  purpose  of  making  home  more  alluring  to 
them,  he  devoted  two  evenings  in  the  week  to  family  reading, 
during  which  we  got  through  much  standard  history,  and  some 
works  of  taste.  I  have  heard  him  say  that  he  could  repeat  all 
Young's  Night  Thoughts  before  he  was  thirty,  and  that  he  commit- 
ted them  to  memory  in  walking  from  place  to  place  in  the  way  of 
his  duties. 

"  His  personal  economy  was  great.  He  never  allowed  himself 
more  than  one  suit  of  clothes  in  the  year;  and  once,  when  the 
calls  of  the  poor  were  unusually  pressing,  he  gave  away  beyond 
his  means,  and  made  his  suit  serve  him  two  years.  With  all  this, 
his  appearance  was  not,  as  you  well  know,  either  shabby  or 
slovenly.  We  used  to  say  that  he  got  the  children  of  Israel's 
blessing  on  his  garments.  His  being  so  constantly  out,  and  often 
taking  long  journeys,  makes  this  economy  appear  the  more 
wonderful.  He  encouraged  us  to  be  careful,  but  abhorred  every- 
thing approaching  to  parsimony  or  selfishness.     By  the  way,  I 


BY    ONE    OF    HIS    DAUGHTERS.  381 

ought  to  tell  you,  that  in  the  year  lie  returned  from  his  Irish 
journey  for  the  Missionary  Society,  the  Committee  thought  it  but 
just  to  offer  to  each  of  the  ministers  of  the  deputation  a  suit  of 
clothes,  very  properly  considering  that  they  had  no  right  to 
involve  them  in  such  expenses  as  these  ;  but  this  considerate 
present  my  father  gratefully,  but  positively,  declined — as  an  in- 
nocent transaction,  capable  of  being  wrested  against  the  integrity 
of  their  purpose — so  jealous  was  he  of  the  honor  of  the  princi- 
ples he  professed.  It  appears  from  his  memorandum  books,  that 
from  his  earliest  years  he  had  been  remarkably  exact  in  keeping 
an  account  of  his  expenditure,  balancing  his  money  to  a  half- 
penny. This  he  did  every  year  of  his  life.  He  was  to  a  degree 
almost  amusing,  particular  in  little  money  matters.  If  on  giving 
to  any  of  his  children  a  paid  letter  for  the  twopenny  pest,  he  had 
not  the  necessary  few  halfpence  in  his  pocket,  he  could  seldom 
be  induced  to  allow  us  to  advance  the  sum  out  of  our  own  re- 
sources. He  would  send  us  or  the  servant  out  for  change,  and 
employ  the  interval  in  impressing  upon  our  minds,  in  the  most 
grave  and  earnest  manner,  the  great  necessity  of  being  careful  in 
such  things:  'Never  borrow  even  a  bawbee,  my  good  lad,  when 
a  little  exertion  can  save  you  from  doing  so.  There  now,  there's 
the  money  ;  mind,  I  owe  you  nothing.'  He  never  would  pay 
away  or  receive  money,  even  where  his  own  family  was  con- 
cerned, without  a  regular  receipt ;  and  when  good  men  called  on 
him  to  receive  the  relief  which  his  influence  among  the  benevo- 
lent and  wealthy  had  procured  for  them,  he  would,  in  his  kindest 
manner,  cause  them,  if  unprovided  with  such  a  discharge,  to  go 
away  to  some  neighboring  shop  and  procure  it.  These  habits 
were  at  first  excellent,  but  rendered  absolutely  necessary  as  he 
came  to  have  societies'  funds,  and  often  those  of  private  individu- 
als, to  manage.  On  his  death-bed  he  was  enabled  to  say  to  my 
mother — '  You  will  find  everything  right  in  the  study.'  In 
truth,  he  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  die.  His  house  was  set  in 
order. 

"  Although  all  this  exactitude  necessarily  occupied  much  time, 
yet  so  orderly  and  systematic  was  he,  that  he  never  seemed  hur- 
ried or  confused.  Each  duty  was  done  so  exactly  in  time,  that 
it  was  always  ended  before  its  successor's  moment  came.  Mo- 
ment, indeed,  I  may  say,  for  he  was  punctual  to  a  moment.  His 
general  conveyance  into  the  city  was  by  the  stage,  and  he  was 
always  ready  and   waiting  its  approach.      To  this    order    might 


382  SKETCH    OF    HIS    DOMESTIC    CHARACTER 

greatly  be  attributed  his  accomplishing  so  much  and  such  varied 
business.  But  his  sense  of  the  value  of  time  was  so  high,  that 
it  suggested  all  possible  means  of  redeeming  it.  No  counsel  was 
more  frequently  heard  from  his  lips  than — '  Oh  !  work,  work, 
while  it  is  day  ;  age  is  cold  and  unlovely.'  We  used  to  reply — 
'  Father,  that's  just  a  poetical  flourish  of  yours,  for  you  are  all 
freshness  and  enjoyment.'  '  Whisht,  whisht,  dinna  flatter  an 
auld  man  ;  but  I  do  bless  God  that  his  service  is  the  last  duty  I 
am  likely  to  tire  of.'  And  how  true  was  this  !  for  the  old  man 
began  to  show  itself,  though  rarely,  at  our  family  meetings. 
Amidst  the  expression  of  our  innocent  mirth  he  would  sometimes 
say — '  There  now,  I  am  tired  of  your  nonsense  ;  can  ye  not 
sit  down  and  sing  me  a  psalm,  or  repeat  (such  and  such)  a  piece 
of  sacred  poetry.  I  just  long  that  you  should  all  join  me  in 
blessing  God  for  his  goodness  to  me  and  mine.'  On  these  occa- 
sions the  house  was  always  over  full,  and  we  would  be  joking 
him  about  its  smallness,  to  which  he  never  failed  to  answer,  by 
telling  the  familiar  anecdote  of  Lord  Burleigh  and  Queen  Eliza- 
beth ;  saying,  '  God  hath  made  me  too  large  for  my  house.'  Thus 
his  heart  seemed  always  yearning  to  acknowledge  God.  '  He 
sweetened  every  enjoyment,  and  made  all  his  bed  for  him  in  his 
sickness.' 

"  His  cheerfulness  was  almost  invariable,  and  his  store  of  anec- 
dotes ever  flowing,  suited  to  all  occasions,  and  giving  to  the  daily 
conversation  of  our  fire-side  a  zest  and  point  I  have  not  often  wit- 
nessed elsewhere.  He  possessed  in  a  very  eminent  degree  the 
charm  of  instructing  without  appearing  to  do  so ;  so  that  our  young 
friends  used  to  say — '  We  never  meet  your  dear  father  at  home 
without  finding  that  we  have  learned  something,  and  yet  he  seems 
the  most  of  all  intent  upon  amusing  us.'  There  was  a  playfulness 
that  never  would  allow  him  to  let  any  one  he  loved  pass  unnoticed  ; 
but  then  the  attack  was  made  with  such  propriety  as  to  increase 
the  good  humor  of  the  party,  by  evincing  his  deep  interest  in 
them. 

"  I  never  saw  him  so  thoroughly  happy  as  when  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  relieving  the  distressed  :  '  Blessed  is  he  that  considereth 
the  poor  ;'  and  surely  he  used  to  appear  as  having  a  foretaste  of 
glory.  The  poor  man  himself,  though  the  joy  of  a  wife  and 
hungry  children  might  be  added  to  his  cup,  was  not,  I  am  con- 
fident, so  happy  as  my  father.  I  have  seen  him  call  us  all  to 
kneel  around  the  Throne,  and  praise  God  for  his  goodness  to  some 


BY    ONE    OF    HIS    DAUGHTERS  383 

poor  family.  But  the  loveliest  feature  in  these  scenes  was,  that 
he  never  saw  himself  in  them.  So  complete  was  this  abstraction, 
thut  we  saw  only  the  goodness  of  God  and  the  joy  of  the  poor  man. 
1 1  was  not  till  the  first  glow  had  gone  hy,  that  we  recollected,  with 
honest  pride  and  sacred  emulation,  the  agent  employed.  His  mod- 
esty was  genuine,  and  could  never  be  misunderstood.  'I  applied 
to  that  excellent  man,  to  whom  I  never  applied  in  vain,'  was  given 
at  these  times  with  an  emphasis  that  left  the  impression  of  our 
admiration  just  where  he  meant  it. 

••  Such  was  his  dcvotedness  to  the  poor,  that  no  personal  inter- 
est could  make  him  swerve  from  their  service  ;  in  illustration  of 
which  I  may  tell  you  the  following  circumstance  : — One  of  my 
brothers  was  applying  for  a  public  situation,  which  would  have 
been  of  very  great  importance  to  him,  and  which  it  was  thought 
the  interest  of  Mr.  Wilberforce  could  have  secured  ;  and,  of  course, 
as  my  father  had  been  long  honored  with  the  friendship  of  that 
excellent  man,  we  urged  exceedingly  that  he  should  apply  to  him. 
But  he  decidedly  refused,  and  on  this  ground : — '  That  good  man 
is  one  of  the  props  that  God  hath  put  in  my  way  for  the  support 
of  my  poor  widows  and  orphans,  and  I  dare  not,  for  their  sakes, 
risk  the  shaking  of  his  faith  in  the  singleness  of  my  appeals.' 
Now,  my  dear  friend,  have  not  the  widow  and  children  of  such 
a  man  a  quietus  against  despondency  in  their  temporal  concerns, 
in  the  blessing  in  store  for  them  with  that  God,  who  hlesses 
for  thousands  of  generations  those  who  love  him  ?  In  order 
to  enter  fully  into  the  merits  of  this  case,  we  must  know  all 
my  father's  tender  solicitude  for  his  family,  his  personal  sacrifices 
on  their  account,  and  the  pain  he  felt  lest  aught  of  indifference 
should  be  suspected  as  influencing  his  refusal.  But  he  lived 
in  faith,  and  saw  no  other  directory  but  God's  law,  and  just 
left  his  character  where  he  left  his  salvation — in  the  hands  of  his 
Saviour." 

This  interesting  and  graphic  sketch — a  cabinet  picture, 
drawn  by  a  delicate  but  faithful  pencil — would  be  weakened 
rather  than  aided  by  being  followed  up  by  a  multiplicity  of 
minor  details.  If  wo  have  got  the  genuine  expression  of  the 
countenance,  we  need  not  weary  the  readeT  by  elaborating 
every  fold  of  the  raiment.  A  few  additional  characteristic 
notices  ought  not,  however,  to  be  omitted. 


384  ADDITIONAL    NOTICES 

The  slightest  mark  of  gratitude  for  the  kindness  shown  by 
him  he  hailed  with  much  pleasure.  He  one  day  received  a 
letter  from  a  young  man  in  Scotland,  to  whom  he  had  shown 
great  kindness  some  years  before.  After  reading  it,  his  feelings 
quite  overcame  him,  and  he  gave  the  letter  to  one  of  his  daugh- 
ters, saying — "  Keep  that,  my  lamb,  it  is  a  treasure  ;  it  is  a 
letter  expressive  of  gratitude  from  a  poor  Scotch  lad,  whom  I 
had  entirely  forgotten ;  and  the  beauty  of  it  is,  there  is  not  a 
single  favor  asked  throughout." 

In  addition  to  all  his  other  avocations,  he  kept  up  a  per- 
sonal intercourse  with  his  numerous  family ;  an  intercourse 
which,  though  varied  by  all  the  contingencies  attached  to  a 
large  family,  and  saddened  at  times  by  all  the  distresses  and 
anxieties  known  only  to  a  parent's  heart,  was  never  allowed 
by  him  to  be  clouded  by  any  doubt  of  the  protecting  care  of 
his  God.  To  a  stranger's  eye,  he  might  occasionally  appear 
to  merge  the  feelings  of  the  individual  in  those  of  the  public 
servant ;  but  his  family  knew  well  that  this  was  no  stoical 
virtue  in  him,  but  the  result  of  his  constant  and  habitual 
confidence  in  God's  goodness,  as  well  as  resignation  to  God's 
will.  On  the  testimony  of  his  widow,  we  can  state  that 
during  his  long  illness  in  1806,  with  a  small  income  and  a 
family  of  ten  children,  all  under  age,  and  mostly  very  young, 
there  never  escaped  from  his  lips  an  expression  of  fear  lest 
his  widow  and  his  children  might  be  deserted  and  unbe- 
friended. 

During  the  height  of  his  public  labor  his  family  saw  very 
little  of  him.  He  generally  left  his  home  by  nine  or  ten  in 
the  morning,  and  did  not  return  till  night.  This  was  his 
usual  routine  for  each  day  of  the  week,  except  Saturday.  He 
often  regretted  that  he  was  so  much  from  his  family,  and 
used  to  remark,  that  the  public  knew  far  more  of  him  than 
his  own  children.  He  never,  however,  for  one  instant,  hesi- 
tated in  the  path  he  had  chosen  ;  but  when  the  infirmities  of 
age  obliged  him  to  relinquish  much  of  his  public  labors,  he 
enjoyed  the  quiet  society  of  his  family  more  than  it  was  pos- 
sible to  conceive  a  man  so  wedded  to  public  life  could  do. 


OF   HIS    DOMESTIC    CHARACTER.  385 

Many  had  great  tremblings  of  heart  when  they  foresaw  that 
part  of  his  public  labor  must  be  laid  aside  ;  they  feared  that  his 
spirits  would  sink,  and  that  the  time  would  pass  heavily  with 
him  :  but  it  proved  quite  otherwise ;  for  it  was  remarked,  that 
he  was  often  the  most  cheerful  person  in  the  house ;  the  very 
sound  of  his  feet  on  the  stairs  was  the  signal  for  hilarity  ;  and 
it  was  said  to  him,  that  when  he  came  down  from  his 
study  he  cheered  them,  instead  of  their  being  obliged  to  cheer 
him. 

He  took  great  delight  in  reading  to  his  family  during  the 
winter  evenings.  Every  work  relating  to  the  manners  and 
scenery  of  Scotland  he  read  with  ardor.  When  he  had  been 
dwelling  on  the  beauties  of  his  native  land,  he  would  express  a 
Avish  now  to  reside  there  ;  but  this  was  only  a  passing  thought, 
for  his  whole  heart  was  in  the  religious  public  at  London,  and 
he  could  not  have  been  happy  without  living  and  dying  among 
them. 

On  the  evening  of  the  Saturday  previous  to  the  Communion 
Sabbath,  his  preparations  were  always  over  by  about  seven ; 
and  it  was  then  his  custom  to  come  down  to  the  parlor,  gather 
all  his  family  about  him,  and  read  to  them  one  of  his  old  action 
sermons.  This  brought  former  experiences  to  remembrance, 
and  suggested  new  hopes. 

When  his  family  were  attending  upon  him  after  the  fatigues 
of  the  Sabbath,  he  would  say — "  I  have  often  been  more  tired 
serving  a  worse  master.  Tf  I  do  not  hurt  preaching,  preaching 
will  never  hurt  me."  On  wine  being  presented  to  him  at  sup- 
per, the  tears  would  rush  into  his  fine  eyes  ;  and  before  he 
tasted  it,  he  would  look  round  on  his  family,  and  say — "  Oh, 
my  dear  children,  how  grateful  your  poor  old  father  ought  to 
be !  There  is  many  a  brother  minister  to-night  in  Scotland, 
and  especially  in  the  Highlands,  as  tired  as  I  am,  but  who  has 
few  of  my  comforts  around  him." 

Wlien  absent  from  his  own  pulpit,  on  account  of  illness  or 
duty  in  other  places,  on  the  return  of  his  family  from  the 
chapel,  his  remark  was,  Dot  "  How  did  Mr. preach  to- 
day ?"   but,   "Well,  I  am  sure  good   Mr. gave  )oii  an 

17 


386  HIS    NATIONALITY. 

excellent  sermon  ;"  thus  checking  any  disposition  to  criticism 
on  their  part.  "  Did  the  elders  come  up  and  speak  to  the  good 
man  V  he  would  add :  nor  did  a  general  affirmative  answer 
satisfy  him  ;  but  he  showed  the  sincerity  of  the  interest  he  took, 
especially  if  the  minister  was  a  young  man,  or  perhaps  not 
very  popular,  by  causing  his  children  to  name,  one  by  one,  the 
elders  who  had  shown  him  attention. 

His  high  sense  of  honor  in  confidential  matters  was  remark- 
able. Many  things  are  committed  to  ministers,  relating  to 
affairs  both  temporal  and  spiritual,  in  the  expectation  of  their 
counsel,  aid,  or  sympathy,  and  in  reliance  on  their  prudence 
and  delicacy,  the  disclosure  of  which  might  have  the  most 
unhappy  effects.  Some,  in  the  simplicity  of  their  hearts,  di- 
vulge such  communications  under  the  charge  of  secrecy ;  but 
this  gratifies  inmroper  curiosity,  and  subjects  the  interests  or 
name  of  others  to  unwarranted  risk.  Dr.  "Waugh  uniformly 
considered  such  trusts  as  sacred ;  he  was  never  known  by  his 
wife  to  communicate  to  her  aught  of  any  matters  which  occurred 
in  the  Session,  and  his  own  family  was  less  acquainted  with 
the  little  politics  of  the  congregation  than  any  family  in  the 
church.  No  such  low  curiosity  existed  in  his  family  ;  but  in 
whatever  circumstances  he  might  have  been  placed,  no  solicita- 
tion, however  urgent,  and  no  artifice,  however  ingenious,  could 
have  drawn  from  him  even  the  most  insignificant  of  such  com- 
munications. 

We  shall  conclude  this  chapter  with  the  following  account 
of  his  nationality  and  poetical  taste,  as  exhibited  in  his  domestic 
circle.  It  is  furnished  by  one  of  his  sons,  at  our  request ;  and 
our  own  recollections  of  similar  scenes  bear  witness  to  its 
truth. 

"  Nationality,  it  has  been  already  observed,  was  a  striking 
feature  in  my  father's  character.  To  illustrate  this  feature 
properly  requires  some  minuteness  of  detail,  which  perhaps  the 
public  may  not  be  disposed  to  receive  with  much  indulgence ; 
but  I  shall  proceed  as  you  desire,  leaving  you  to  curtail  or 
condense  my  communication  as  you  see  fit. 

"My  sister  has  noticed  his   propensity  to  escape  in   ima- 


HIS    NATIONALITY".  387 

gination  to  Scotland,  and  to  solace  himself,  after  his  minis- 
terial labors  on  the  Sabbath,  l>y  conversing  of  the  friends 
and  scenes  of  his  youth.  So  much  was  this  the  case,  that 
had  a  person  from  a  distant  land  been  suddenly  placed  in  our 
domestic  circle  after  my  father's  return  from  church  on  a 
Sunday  evening,  and  listened  to  his  conversation  for  half  an 
hour,  he  might  have  imagined  himself  seated  beside  the  pas- 
tor of  some  remote  country  congregation,  by  Tweedside,  per- 
haps, or  the  banks  of  Loch  Leven ;  so  habitually  and  en- 
tirely did  his  mind  revert  to  Scotland  and  its  interests.  On 
such  occasions,  he  loved  to  talk  of  the  simple  piety  of  his  father's 
household,  as  it  has  been  described  at  the  commencement  of 
this  Memoir, — of  the  surviving  relatives  and  friends  at  a  dis- 
tance with  whom  he  had  held  sweet  counsel  in  the  fear  of  God, 
— of  his  brethren  in  the  ministry  whom  he  had  loved  in  youth, 
or  labored  together  with  in  riper  years, — of  the  sober,  sagacious, 
and  religious  peasantry  of  Scotland, — and,  above  all,  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  public  ordinances  of  the  house  of  God,  and 
especially  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  were  attended 
and  performed  in  that  privileged  land,  particularly  in  country 
places. 

"In  his  ministerial  visitations,  also,  his  nationality  was 
often  strongly  displayed  (and  that  with  most  beneficial  effect), 
both  in  sentiment  and  language.  When,  without  adequate 
cause,  any  of  his  hearers  had  failed  to  attend  public  ordi- 
nances so  regularly  as  he  could  have  wished,  and  would  plead 
their  distance  from  the  chapel  as  an  excuse,  he  would  ex- 
claim, in  the  emphatic  northern  dialect,  which  he  loved  on 
familiar  occasions  to  employ, — 'What!  you  from  Scotland! 
from  Melrose !  from  Gala  Water !  from  Selkirk  !  and  it's  a 
hard  matter  to  walk  a  mile  or  two  to  serve  your  Maker,  one 
day  in  the  week  !  How  many  miles  did  you  walk  at  Sel- 
kirk V  '  Five.'  '  Five !  and  can  ye  no  walk  two  here  ? 
Man !  your  father  walked  ten  or  twall  out,  and  as  many 
hame,  every  Sunday  i'  the  year,  and  your  mother  too,  aften. 
I've  seen  a  hunder  folk  and  mair,  that  aye  walked  six  or 
seven,   men  and  women,  and  bairns  too;  and  at  the  sacra- 


388  TENT    PREACHINGS. 

ments  folk  walked  fifteen,  and  some  twenty  miles.  How  far  will 
you  walk  the  morn  to  mak  half -a-cr  own?  Fie!  fie!  Butye'll 
be  out  wi'  a'  your  household  next  Sabbath,  I  ken.  O,  my  man, 
mind  the  bairns  !  If  you  love  their  souls,  diuna  let  them  get 
into  the  habit  of  biding  away  fiae  the  kirk.  All  the  evils  among 
young  folk  in  London  arise  from  their  not  attending  God's 
house.'  Such  remonstrances,  it  may  easily  be  imagined,  were 
not  often  urged  in  vain. 

"In  order  however,  to  enable  English  readers  bettter  to 
appreciate  his  feelings  respecting  the  performance  of  religious 
ordinances  in  his  native  land,  a  few  explanatory  remarks  may 
be  here  expedient.  The  churches  of  the  Secession  were,  in 
his  youth,  very  thinly  scattered  over  that  part  of  the  country 
in  which  he  resided ;  and  the  Sacrament  of  the  Supper  was 
observed  in  some  places  twice,  and  in  others  only  once  in  the 
year.  The  people  of  the  various  congregations  had,  however, 
opportunities  of  pai  taking  of  this  ordinance  more  frequently, 
by  reciprocally  attending  at  its  celebration  in  adjoining  con- 
gregations ;  and  the  consequence  was,  that  no  church  or 
meeting-house  could  contain  the  number  of  communicants  or 
hearers  who  usually  assembled  on  these  occasions.  There 
was,  therefore,  established  an  auxiliary  pulpit  service,  which, 
in  summer,  was  performed  out  of  doors,  in  a  small  field  or 
plot  of  ground  attached  to  the  place  of  worship,  or  on  some 
open  brae  or  green  bank  near  it;  and  this  service  consisted 
of  prayer,  singing,  and  preaching.  By  this  means,  the  whole 
of  the  assembled  people  were  engaged  at  one  and  the  same 
time ;  for  while  these  services  were  going  on  in  the  church 
or  meeting-house,  they  were  also  carrying  forward  at  the 
tent,  as  it  was  called ;  and  when  the  sacrament  had  been  ad- 
ministered to  those  within  the  building,*  they  withdrew  to 
the  services  of  the  tent,  the  tables  were  again  filled  from 
without,  and  again  similarly  vacated  and  replenished,  until 
the  whole  of  the  assembled  communicants  had  commemo- 
rated the  dying  love  of  their  Saviour.     The  number  of  com- 

*  In  fine  weather,  the  sacrament  was  generally  administered  in  the 
open  air ;  at  Stitchell,  on  Stilchell  Brap. 


HIS    NATIONALITY.  389 

municants  was  often  very  great,  and  tlie  services  took  up  seven 
or  eight  hours.  They  were  conducted  by  four  or  five  ministers 
from  other  congregations,  who  were  called  upon  or  invited  by 
the  presiding  pastor  to  aid  him  in  the  work. 

"  The  nature  of  this  sacred  ordinance,  its  extreme  solem- 
nity, the  fervid  earnestness  of  the  ministers,  and  the  deep  rev- 
erence of  the  hearers,  conjoined  with  an  extended  and  im- 
portant part  of  the  service  being  performed  in  the  open  air, 
at  the  foot  of  a  mountain,  or  on  the  banks  of  a  stream,  and 
in  a  pastoral  country,  were  circumstances  calculated  to  make 
an  impression  on  the  sensitive  mind,  which  could  never  be 
effaced.  To  those  who  subsequently  removed  to  large  towns 
or  cities,  and  who  retained  their  integrity,  the  retrospect 
must  have  been  attended  with  emotions  almost  indescribable. 
And  the  writer  may  state,  from  his  own  experience,  that 
when  he  has  fallen  in  with  some  of  his  northern  friends,  who 
had  forgotten  the  God  of  their  fathers,  and  made  shipwreck 
of  their  faith,  he  has,  in  more  instances  than  one,  compelled 
them  to  acknowledge,  with  tears  in  their  eyes,  that  in  pur- 
suing the  pleasures  of  the  world,  and  its  business  and  inter- 
ests, these  solemn  and  affecting  scenes  have  come  back  upon 
their  hearts  in  all  their  sacred  loveliness,  and  have  given,  for 
the  time,  to  worldly  feelings  and  conduct  such  a  powerful 
check  as  neither  the  operations  of  conscience,  nor  the  splen- 
did service  and  ritual  of  another  church,  had  ever  been  able 
to  effect. 

"On  such  themes  my  venerable  father  loved  to  dwell. 
They  often  furnished  topics  for  his  conversation  on  Sabbath 
evenings,  and  especially  on  the  evenings  of  sacramental  Sab- 
baths. On  these  latter  occasions  he  was  usually  much  ex- 
hausted ;  and  it  was  not  till  after  supper  that  he  did  more 
than  make  general  and  brief  references  to  the  services  of  the 
day.  "When  he  had  supped,  his  strength  returned,  and  he 
would  converse  cheerfully  (for  he  was  no  gloomy  or  morose 
Christian)  on  the  great  Bubj<  ct  in  which  we  had  all  been  en- 
gaged ;  and  then  he  would  add,  '  To-day  they  have  been 
celebrating    the  Lord's  Supper  at  Kelso,'  or  'at  Hawick,'  or 


390  STITCHELL    BRAE. 

some  other  place,  which  he  would  name;  for  he  generally 
knew  the  days  on  which  the  sacrament  was  administered  in 
the  different  congregations  in  the  southern  parts  of  Scotland. 
In  a  softened  mood,  he  would  continue, — 'I  shall  never 
again  break  the  bread  of  life  to  my  countrymen  in  my  own 
land,  nor  myself  commemorate  there  the  Saviour's  dying 
love.  O  the  solemnity  of  those  tent  preachings !'  '  But, 
father,'  some  of  us  would  say,  'you  would  still  make  an  ef- 
fort to  go  to  Stitchell  Brae?'  'To  Stitchell  Brae!'  his  eyes 
kindling,  and  his  soul  lighting  up  with  hallowed  enthusiasm, 
— '  to  Stitchell  Brae  ! — ay  would  I !  I  should  rejoice  again 
to  preach  from  that  tent  at  its  base,  and  to  see  the  hundreds 
of  God's  redeemed  people  sitting  on  the  face  of  the  hill,  above 
and  around  me,  drinking  in  with  joy  the  glad  tidings  of  sal- 
vation. O  that  I  could  ao-ain  sit  amon^  them,  and  hear 
good  old  Mr.  Coventry  give  us  as  much  sound  divinity  in  one 
sermon  as  is  now  found  in  ten  volumes!  It  was  a  scene  on 
which  God's  eye  might  love  to  look.  Such  sermons — and 
such  prayers  ! — none  such  to  be  heard  now-a-days.  What 
are  your  cathedrals,  and  your  choirs,  and  your  organs  ?  God 
laid  the  foundations  of  our  temple  on  the  pillars  of  the  earth ; 
our  floor  was  nature's  verdant  carpet;  our  canopy  was  the 
vaulted  sky — the  heaven  in  which  the  Creator  dwells :  in 
the  distance  the  Cheviot  hills ;  around  us  nature  in  all  the 
luxuriance  of  loveliness, — their  fields  ripening  unto  harvest, 
here  lowing  herds  in  all  the  fulness  of  supply  for  man :  on 
the  banks  of  that  little  rivulet  at  our  feet,  lambs,  the  em- 
blems of  innocence,  sporting  in  the  shade,  and  offering  to 
Heaven  the  only  acknowledgment  they  could,  in  the  expres- 
sion of  their  happiness  and  joy  ;  the  birds  around  warbling 
praises  to  Him  who  daily  provides  for  all  their  wants ;  the 
flowers  and  green  fields  offering  their  perfume ;  and,  love- 
lier still,  and  infinitely  dearer  to  Him,  multitudes  of  re- 
deemed souls  and  hearts,  purified  by  faith,  singing  his  praises 
in  '  grave  sweet  melody,' — perhaps  in  the  tune  of  '  Martyrs.' 
*  Martyrs'  so  sung  on  Stitchell  Brae  might  almost  arrest  an 
angel  on  an  errand  of  mercy, — and  would  afford  him  more 


HIS    NATIONALITY.  391 

pleasure  than  a'  the  chanting,  and  a'  the  music,  and  a'  the  or- 
gans, in  a'  the  cathedrals  o'  Europe.' 

"Such  was  the  course  into  which  his  national  predilec- 
tions would  often  flow  on  serious  occasions,  or  in  Sabbath 
evening  conversations ;  but  he  also  loved  at  other  times  to 
indulge  in  national  and  local  reminiscences  of  a  more  playful 
and  persona],  though  equally  innocent  description.  When 
any  friend  from  that  part  of  the  country  of  which  he  was  a 
native  visited  him  in  London,  he  loved  dearly  to  enjoy,  if  his 
serious  duties  admitted  of  it,  a  pleasant  'fireside  crack  about 
auld  Scotland,  and  the  days  o1  lang  syne,' — and  it  was  de- 
lightful to  witness  the  hilarity  and  almost  juvenile  vivacity 
with  which  he  would,  on  such  occasions,  retrace  the  scenes  of 
his  early  days.  The  peculiar  beauties  of  his  native  country 
had  left  impressions  on  his  mind  never  to  be  effaced ;  and  to 
these,  when  with  persons  of  congenial  taste,  he  would  revert 
in  detail  with  ever-fresh  enthusiasm.  There  did  not  appear 
to  have  been  a  spot  remarkable  for  natural  beauty,  within 
his  reach  when  a  boy,  which  he  had  not  visited,  and  that 
often ;  nor  was  there  a  historical  record  or  oral  tradition  re- 
specting the  country  with  which  he  was  not  intimately  ac- 
quainted. 

"Akin  to  these  were  his  feelings  respecting  his  youthful  com- 
panions and  early  associates,  of  whom  he  always  spoke  with  an 
affection  almost  fraternal ;  and  in  whose  future  fortunes  the  affec- 
tionate interest  he  took  appeared  as  lively  as  if  they  had  only 
parted  yesterday. 

"  Many  of  them  were  often  the  subjects  of  conversation  on 
such  evenings  as  I  have  referred  to.  When  he  heard  that 
any  of  them  had  done  dishonor  to  their  early  religious  pro- 
fession and  education,  it  caused  him  much  poignant  grief; 
and  when  he  was  told  that,  by  the  establishment  of  a  manu- 
factory during  the  late  war, — and  a  more  easy  and  speedy 
communication  with  Edinburgh,  London,  <fcc,  and  the  evils 
arising  from  nominal  riches, — the  character  of  the  people  of 
Earlstoun  had  become  much  changed  for  the  worse,  that 
their  moral  habits  had  been  deteriorated,  and  their  observance 


392  PATRIOTISM. 

of  the  Sabbath  become  more  lax,  he  evidenced  by  his  emotion 
the  feelings  of  deep  sorrow  and  concern  which  were  working  in 
his  mind. 

1  Even  now,  far  distant,  fancy  leads 
Through  twilight  groves  and  blooming  mead3 ; 
And  lovely,  in  the  hues  of  truth, 
Restores  the  scenes,  the  friends  of  youth. 
He  feels  that  nought  in  later  life 
■&  ■*  *  * 

His  bosom  with  a  tie  can  clasp 
So  strong — so  sacred — as  endears 
The  scenes  and  friends  of  early  years.' 

"  He  loved  the  whole  human  race,  because  upon  them  the 
image  of  their  God  and  Creator  had  been  stamped,  and  for 
them,  as  for  him,  his  Son  had  died ;  but  he  was  thoroughly 
a  patriot,  and  a  patriot  in  the  noblest  sense  of  the  term.  He 
would  cheerfully  have  died  for  the  interests,  temporal  and 
eternal,  of  his  country,  had  Providence  so  called  him  to  suf- 
fer, either  in  the  field  or  at  the  stake.  He  devoted  the  ener- 
gies of  his  mind,  in  a  paramount  degree,  to  the  necessities  of 
the  poor  heathen  in  foreign  lands,  because  there  they  were 
more  peculiarly  required ;  but  he  did  not  neglect  the  ties  by 
which  he  was  bound  to  his  family  and  his  native  land.  His 
more  tender  sympathies  were  in  the  eternal  interests  of  his 
family — then  of  his  church — and,  extending  the  circle,  em- 
braced those  of  the  land  he  so  dearly  loved.  It  was  natural, 
however,  that  the  portion  of  the  land  where  he  had  been 
born  and  educated, — where  the  first  impressions  of  serious- 
ness had  been  made  upon  his  mind, — where  his  taste  for  the 
beauties  of  nature  had  been  cherished  and  cultivated, — where 
the  peaceful  character  of  the  people,  and  their  sterling  integ- 
rity and  unfeigned  piety  were  the  best  evidences  of  the  sal- 
utary effects  of  that  Gospel  which  he  preached  so  long  and 
so  faithfully, — where  his  fathers  had  lived  and  died  beloved 
and  respected  by  all  who  knew  them ;  it  was  natural  that 
Earlstoun  and  its  neighborhood  should  excite  more  intense 
interest  in  his  mind  than  any  other  place ;  and,  accordingly, 


POETICAL   IMAGINATION.  393 

when  they  were  mentioned,  a  chord  was  struck  which  vibrated 
to  the  inmost  recesses  of  his  soul.  The  strength  of  this  feeling 
will,  without  an  effort,  present  itself  to  the  recollection  of  all 
his  countrymen  who  were  in  the  habit  of  social  and  friendly  in- 
tercourse with  him. 

"  It  has  been  before  observed,  that  he  had  a  highly  poeti- 
cal imagination.  His  writings — I  mean  his  notes  and  let- 
ters — and  his  public  exhibitions,  as  well  as  those  in  private 
life  (those  of  e very-day  occurrence,  without  design  and  with- 
out effort),  aftbrd  ample  evidence  of  his  faculty.  But  al- 
though he  wrote  and  composed  without  difficulty — cur  rente 
calamo — and  was  never  at  a  loss  in  composition  for  a  word 
or  a  sentiment,  and  those  the  most  appropriate ;  yet  he  had 
never,  so  far  as  I  know,  made  any  attempt  in  verse.  In 
early  life  he  had  read,  and  read  attentively,  our  best  English 
poets,  and  had  committed  much  of  their  works  to  memory. 
In  later  years,  however,  his  numerous  avocations  rendered  it 
impossible  that  he  should  do  more  than  read,  and  that  very 
cursorily,  the  poetical  productions  of  his  contemporaries ;  but 
he  always  marked  the  striking  sentiments  conveyed  in  the 
latter;  and  although  he  might  not  be  able  to  quote  them 
precisely  in  their  own  words,  he  had  the  happy  faculty  of 
promptly  bringing  the  sentiments  to  bear  on  any  subject  in 
which  his  heart  was  peculiarly  interested.  The  aptitude  of 
the  illustration  was  recognized  and  forcibly  felt  by  those  of  his 
hearers  who  had  read  the  works  from  which  they  were  drawn, 
and  by  others  was  received  with  all  the  charm  of  novelty  and 
with  all  its  power. 

"  Of  all  the  poets,  however,  in  whose  works  he  delighted, 
Thomson  was  his  greatest  favorite.  The  scenes  he  describes, 
his  enthusiasm  in  their  delineation,  the  purity  of  his  mind, 
and  the  object  he  had  primarily  in  view, — the  leading  the 
minds  of  his  readers  from  nature  up  to  nature's  God, — of 
whose  tenderness  and  love  in  Spring,  perfection  in  Summer, 
bounty  in  Autumn,  and  awful  grandeur  in  Winter,  the  roll- 
ing year  is  full; — these  allured,  captivated,  and  fixed  his 
mind, — a  mind  attuned  in  sweetest  melody  to  full  and  joyful 

11* 


394  POETICAL   IMAGINATION. 

harmony  with  all  the  perfections  of  Deity,  as  exhibited  in  the 
world  which  has  been  so  richly  adorned  for  loved,  though  fallen 
man.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  frequently  addressing  his  people 
on  the  return  of  the  seasons,  and  of  illustrating  his  subject  by 
some  of  the  most  pathetic  touches  of  his  favorite  poet ; — with 
Spring,  Summer,  and  Autumn,  his  eye  beamed  love  and  ardent 
gratitude, — with  Winter  his  soul  seemed  to  sink  under  the 
poet's  delineation  of  wretchedness  and  woe.  His  people  evi- 
denced the  power  of  the  former,  and  their  sympathy  with  the 
latter,  in  their  uniform  and  steadfast  works  of  kindness  and 
labors  of  love, — fruits  which  gladdened  his  heart,  and  gave  con- 
fidence to  his  exertions. 

"  When  reference  was  sometimes  made  to  his  love  of  nature, 
and  to  the  peculiarly  strong  impression  which  the  goodness  of 
God,  in  providing  for  the  wants  of  his  creatures  by  the  return- 
ing seasons,  had  made  upon  his  mind,  I  shall  never  forget  the 
solemn  manner  in  which  he  used  to  repeat  the  following 
lines, — 

1  For  me,  when  I  forget  the  darling  theme, 
Whether  the  blossom  blows,  the  summer-ray 
Russets  the  plain,  inspiring  Autumn  gleams, 
Or  Winter  rises  in  the  blackening  east, — 
Be  my  tongue  mute,  my  fancy  paint  no  more, 
And,  dead  to  joy,  forget  my  heart  to  beat !" 


CHAPTER   VI. 

HIS    CONDUCT    IN    AFFLICTION    AND     DEATH. 

Submission  and  cheerfulness  in  distress :  letters.  Addresses  to  his 
people  during  his  illness.  Resignation  under  increasing  infir- 
mities and  bereavements.  Anticipations  of  approaching  dissolu- 
tion ;  letters.  Last  public  services.  Last  illness.  Death-bed 
scene.  His  decease.  Resolution  of  Directors  of  London  Mis- 
sionary Society  on  this  event.  His  funeral.  Tribute  to  his  mem 
ory.     Conclusion. 

Though  Dr.  Waugh  lived  to  the  age  of  seventy-four,  he  did 
not  enjoy,  for  a  number  of  years  before  his  death,  anything  like 
vigorous  health.  He  was  subject  to  frequent  ailments,  which 
often  caused  exquisite  pain  ;  yet,  in  these  circumstances,  he 
was  not  only  patient,  but  even  cheerful ;  and  while  he  edified 
his  family  and  visitors,  in  his  affliction,  by  the  submission  and 
the  heavenly-mindedness  which  he  manifested,  lie  delighted 
them  by  a  pleasantry  which  stripped  his  sick-chamber  of  its 
gloom,  and  sent  them  away  from  his  side,  struck  with  the 
power  of  religion,  and  with  the  energy  of  a  mind  disposed  to 
be  happy.  Cheerful  piety  in  the  decline  of  life  is  like  a  tree 
which  the  storm  has  shattered,  but  which  still  retains  much 
of  the  verdure  of  the  summer,  and  is  still  the  resort  of  the 
birds  which  sing  among  the  branches. 

The  pious  state  of  his  mind  will  be  seen  from  his  com- 
munications to  his  friends.     To  a  friend  he  says,  in  1806  : — 

"  I  have  been  confined  to  bed  by  what  my  surgeon  calls  a  bas- 
tard gout,  for  this  fortnight  past,  and  have  little  prospect  of  be- 
ing soon  better ;  but  I  am  in  the  hands  of  God,  in  whose  wisdom, 
tender  mercy,  and  love,  it  is  my  desire  to  repose  entire  confidence. 


396  SUBMISSION     AND    CHEERFULNESS    IN    DISTRESS. 

While  it  is  day,  O  work  !  In  the  time  of  sickness  there  is  little  to 
be  done.  Distracted  thoughts,  deadness  of  heart,  anxiety,  and  fret- 
fulness,  are  temptations  which  assail  us  in  our  day  of  adversity ; 
but  God  will  be  my  defence." 

He  afterwards  writes  to  the  same  friend : — 

"  By  the  kindness  of  Providence,  I  am  gathering  a  little  strength, 
though  still  unable  to  stand  without  a  staff.  By  means  he  deems 
suitable,  my  physician  is  trying  to  invigorate  my  cold  and  crazy 
carcass.  It  will  afford  materials  of  gratitude  to  your  mind  to  be 
informed  that  my  heavenly  Father  does  not  desert  me  in  the  time 
of  my  trouble.  I  have  a  calm  and  settled  confidence  in  the  wisdom 
and  goodness  of  a  covenanted  Providence,  and  my  hopes  as  to  the 
future  rest  entirely  on  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  of  God.  In  the  guar- 
dian care  of  Divine  providence  I  desire  to  leave  what  is  most  dear 
to  me, — my  wife  and  children,  and  the  congregation  of  God's  re- 
deemed people  which  he  hath  put  under  my  care.  Though  the 
symptoms  are  not  at  present  alarming,  yet  I  cannot  consider  my- 
self as  out  of  danger.  My  mind  enjoys  tranquillity.  May  my  mer- 
ciful Father  preserve  me  from  the  delusion  of  a  false  and  ill- 
grounded  trust !" 

And  again : — 

"  This  has  been  a  sad  winter  to  me,  through  a  severe  return  of  a 
constitutional  disorder,  and  other  causes.  It  has,  however,  at  in- 
tervals, been  relieved  by  days  more  luminous  ;  but  nothing  I  find 
will  secure  untroubled  serenity  save  a  constant  exercise  of  look- 
ing upward  and  looking  forward." 

On  a  renewed  attack  of  indisposition  : — 

"  I  am  feeble  both  in  body  and  mind  ;  but  what  ground  of  thank- 
fulness to  the  Lord  have  I !  and  I  wish  to  record  it,  to  the  honor  of 
his  faithfulness  and  grace,  that  my  spirits  are  nowhere  so  good  as 
in  the  pulpit  and  by  the  sick  man's  bed.  Were  it  otherwise,  I 
should  be  of  all  ministers  the  most  miserable." 

The  bruise  which  he  received  by  the  fall  of  the  platform 
in  1823,  as  already  mentioned,  gave  a  shock  to  his  constitu- 
tion from  which  it  never   recovered.     Though   he  was  able, 


ADDRESS   TO    BIB    CONGREGATION.  307 

after  tho  lapse  of  some  months,  to  officiate  in  public,  yet  lie 
appeared  stiff  and  feeble;  and  the  following  address  which  he 
prepared  and  caused  to  be  read  to  the  congregation  after  the 
accident,  exhibits  those  strong  impressions  of  death  and  eter- 
nity under  which  he  felt  himself  constrained  to  live  : — 

"  Salisbury  Place,  May  10,  1823. 

"  My  Beloved  Friends, — It  is  known  to  a  considerable  portion 
of  you,  that,  on  Monday  last,  while  engaged  with  many  of  his 
revered  brethren  in  a  work  of  great  goodness,  your  minister, 
through  the  sinking  of  the  platform,  escaped,  with  many  ethers, 
very  imminent  danger,  for  which  he  owes  the  devoutest  grat- 
itude to  God,  and  trusts  that  the  life  thus  preserved  by  his 
providence  will,  with  renewed  ardor,  be  consecrated  to  his  honor 
in  the  service  of  the  Gospel.  He  feels  the  kindness  of  God  to  him 
in  sending  so  seasonably  the  assistance  of  his  dear  brother  from 
Dublin. 

"  Though  separated  from  you  in  body  to-morrow,  I  wish  to  l>e 
present  with  you  in  spirit.  My  prayers  shall  ascend  to  heaven, 
that  the  nourishing  and  fructifying  iniluence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  like 
the  gentle  rains  which  are  now  distilling  on  the  fields,  may  descend 
on  your  souls,  and  produce  all  the  holy,  and  upright,  and  gentle 
dispositions,  which  constitute  the  beauty  of  a  church  that  the  Lord 
hath  blessed. 

"  I  would  cherish  the  hope  of  being  so  far  restored  as  to  be 
able  to  appear  in  my  place  on  the  day  of  our  sacred  festival,  the 
25th  instant.  But  should  the  Sovereign  Disposer  of  our  healdi 
and  hopes  arrange  matters  otherwise,  due  intimation  shall  be 
given  on  the  preceding  Sabbath.  Meanwhile,  I  shall  expect  to 
sec  the  young,  and  others  who  are  desirous  of  uniting  themselves 
to  the  church  in  fellowship,  any  time  of  the  week  that  may  best 
suit  them.  I  cannot  close  without  putting  in  my  claim  to  a  large 
share  of  your  earnest  supplication  to  God  in  your  minister's  be- 
half, that  the  end  of  the  visitation  may  be  gained,  in  the  advance- 
ment of  his  own  preparation  for  the  last  change,  and  of  your  spir- 
itual benefit  through  his  aroused  activity  and  undeviating  fidelity  in 
his  sacred  work. 

"  I  commend  you  to  God.  I  would  leave  you  in  the  embrace 
of  covenanted  love,  and  ever  am,  your  most  affectionate 
pastor." 


398  ADDRESS    TO    HIS    CONGREGATION. 

On  resuming  his  place  in  the  pulpit,  he  thus  addressed  them 
in  person : 

"My  dear  Friends, — I  cannot  resume  my  place  again 
among  you,  without  adverting,  for  a  few  minutes,  to  the  opera- 
tions of  Divine  Providence  towards  us  for  these  five  months 
past. 

"The  voice  of  God  is  heard  in  the  event  in  which  the 
severe  indisposition  of  your  pastor  originated,  and  its  lan- 
guage is,  '  What  is  your  life  ?  It  is  even  a  vapor,  that 
appeareth  for  a  little  time,  and  then  vanisheth  away.'  In 
the  midst  of  life  we  are  in  death.  'What  I  say  to  one  I 
say  to  all,  Watch ;  for  in  such  an  hour  as  ye  think  not,  the 
Son  of  man  cometh.'  There  is  but  a  step  between  us  and 
death.  'Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  all 
thy  might;  for  there  is  no  work,  nor  device,  nor  knowledge 
nor  wisdom,  in  the  grave,  whither  thou  goest.'  These  truths 
and  admonitions  we  have  often  heard.  We  admit  their  im- 
portance ;  but  it  is  not  usually  till  disease  awakens  our 
slumbering  minds  that  we  feel  their  force,  and  act  under 
their  influence.  Happy  for  us  if  even  then  the  end  be 
gained ! 

"It  has  afforded  to  your  minister  matter  of  devout  grati- 
tude, that  during  the  many  dark  and  solitary  Sabbaths  which 
he  has  been  ordained  by  Infinite  Wisdom  to  pass,  his  beloved 
people  have  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  an  able  and  acceptable 
supply;  and  it  has  been  as  it  ought,  his  daily  and  earnest 
prayer  to  God,  that  much  spiritual  benefit  might  accompany 
these  ministrations.  Lest  it  should  unexpectedly  be  found 
that  the  recovered  strength  of  your  minister  should  be,  after 
all,  unequal  to  the  whole  customary  service  of  the  Sabbath, 
he  has,  on  the  suggestion  of  his  beloved  brethren  the  elders 
and  deacons  of  the  church,  and  especially  at  the  request  of 
the  elders  of  the  sister  church,  in  Miles'  Lane  (on  whose  min- 
ister the  chastening  hand  of  his  heavenly  Father  still  lies), 
invited  one  of  his  brethren  from  the  North,  the  Rev.  George 
Lawson  of  Kilmarnock,  eldest  son  of  the  late  Dr.   Lawson, 


ADDRESS   TO    HIS    CONGREGATION.  399 

our  Professor  in  Divinity  at  Selkirk,  to  assist  us  with  his  valua- 
ble labors  for  some  months,  should  assistance  for  so  long  a  pe- 
riod be  found  necessary.  We  look  for  him  in  town  by  the  end 
of  next  week. 

"It  has  already  been  announced  to  you,  that,  by  Divine 
permission,  the  holy  communion  will  be  dispensed  in  this 
congregation  on  Sabbath  the  19th  instant,  and  this  day  fort- 
night. As  the  time  is  near  at  hand,  the  minister  will  be 
happy  to  meet,  on  Thursday,  Friday,  or  Saturday,  or  any 
evening  in  the  course  of  this  week,  the  young  people  or 
others  who  feel  it  to  be  their  duty,  as  it  is  their  inestimablo 
privilege,  to  make  a  public  profession  of  their  faith  in  Christ, 
and  obedience  to  him,  in  order  to  their  introduction  to  the 
fellowship  of  the  church.  A  competent  measure  of  knowl- 
edge, entire  confidence  in  the  mediation,  and  reliance  on 
the  atoning  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God,  with  devotedness  of 
heart  to  the  doctrine  of  the  holy  Jesus,  and  the  imitation  of 
his  perfect  example ;  these  form  the  endowments  of  head  and 
heart  essentially  needful  to  membership,  and  indeed  to  vital 
Christianity,  whether  under  the  form  of  a  public  profession  or 
not.  The  minister  most  earnestly  requests  his  young  friends  to 
devote  a  reasonable  measure  of  their  time  to  deep  and  retired 
thoughtful ness  on  the  subject;  to  lift  up  their  eyes  and  hearts 
to  the  Father  of  Lights  for  guidance,  and  for  the  aid  of  his  Holy 
Spirit,  to  enable  them  to  follow  up  the  convictions  of  their  own 
minds,  and  with  a  ready  acquiescence  in  the  call  of  God  and  of 
the  church,  to  give  themselves  to  the  Lord  and  to  the  church 
by  the  will  of  God." 

In  his  state  of  infirmity,  he  was  most  solicitous  to  continue 
his  usual  pulpit  labors  :  so  bent  was  he  on  this,  that  he  insist- 
ed on  preaching  when  he  was  very  weak ;  and  in  the  pulpit 
he  was  sometimes  seized  with  such  severe  pain,  as  to  be  obliged 
to  desist,  and  to  be  assisted  down  and  carried  home.  By 
the  care  of  his  family,  and  of  his  excellent  medical  friend,  Dr. 
Darling,  his  strength  revived,  and  his  people  saw  him  return 
to  that  place  which  he  often  felt  to  be  the  gate  of  heaven. 


400  LOSS    OF    DEAR    FRIENDS. 

It  would  be  injustice  to  eminent  merit,  and  ingratitude  to  dis- 
tinguished kindness,  were  we  not  to  state  the  high  obligations 
which  Dr.  Waugh  most  feelingly  acknowledged  that  he  was 
under  to  Dr.  Darling,  for  his  skilful  and  affectionate  attention. 
He  watched  over  his  health  with  the  care  of  a  son  ;  and,  amidst 
numerous  and  pressing  engagement*,  was  unremitting  in  his 
solicitude,  and  ministered  to  his  complaints  with  the  utmost  at- 
tention. Like  himself,  this  gentleman  came  from  the  pastoral 
scenery  of  the  south  of  Scotland,  and  they  were  endeared  to 
each  other  by  various  associations, — by  gratitude  on  the  one 
hand,  and  by  veneration  on  the  other  ;  and  his  well-merited  suc- 
cess shows  to  what  happy  results  thorough  education,  natural 
acuteness,  and  active  habits,  will  lead. 

These  infirmities,  and  increasing  attacks  of  pain  and  sick- 
ness, were  to  him  as  the  sentence  of  death  on  himself;  but 
there  were  other  causes  which  tended  to  impress  still  more  on 
his  mind  the  idea  that  the  time  of  his  departure  was  drawing 
nigh.  The  death  of  his  son  Alexander  struck  him  to  the  heart. 
He  had  called  him  in  his  heart  the  son  of  his  right  hand,  from 
the  co-operation  and  solace  in  every  good  word  and  work  which 
he  had  expected  from  him  ;  and  when  he  laid  him  in  the  grave, 
he  felt  that  his  right  hand  was  withered.  In  writing  to  a  friend, 
he  says : — 

"It  has  pleased  God  to  remove  from  us  the  delight  of  our 
eyes,  and  the  object  of  our  fondest  anticipations.  After  fourteen 
months  of  severe  suffering,  he  fell  asleep  in  the  bosom  of  his 
divine  Redeemer,  relying  on  his  atoning  sacrifice,  and  full  of  the 
hope  of  that  Gospel  which  it  was  the  delight  of  his  heart  to 
preach.  We  saw  flung  around  his  character  an  endearing  atmo- 
sphere of  unfeigned  piety,  gentleness,  and  love.  He  will  long 
live  in  the  unbought  esteem  of  these  who  can  justly  appreciate 
cultivated  talent,  strict  godliness,  and  polished  manners.  Pre- 
sent my  affectionate    regards   to  ,  to  whose   kind   offices 

my  dear  son  often  told  me  he  was  greatly  indebted  for  just 
views  of  vital  religion.  Christians,  in  the  evening  of  their  life, 
have  precious  opportunities  for  honoring  God  by  their  counsels, 
to  the  young.  The  words  of  dying  saints  have  proved  living 
oracles  to  survivors.     Bear  us  on  your  heart  before  the  Throne." 


ANTICIPATIONS    OF     DEATH.  401 

The  death  of  Dr.  Bogue  made  a  deep  impression  on  him. 
He  was  requested  by  the  Directors  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  along  with  Dr.  Winter  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Arundel,  to 
attend  the  funeral,  as  a  deputation  to  represent  them.  lie 
complied  with  the  request,  and  felt  and  expressed  the  deepest 
interest  in  the  solemnities  of  that  scene.  In  a  funeral  ser- 
mon on  the  occasion,  he  made  many  striking-  allusions  to  his 
own  frailty,  and  to  the  approaching  close  of  those  labors  in 
the  work  of  Christ,  which  his  friend  and  brother  had  so  hon- 
orably finished.  We  may  also  notice  the  death  of  Dr.  Hall, 
of  Edinburgh,  a  man  distinguished  by  his  public  spirit,  the 
blandness  and  courtesy  of  his  manners,  his  generous  activity, 
and  the  unction  and  energy  of  his  pulpit  eloquence.  The  letter 
which  he  wrote  to  his  widow  on  that  occasion  strikingly  shows 
how  he  heard  the  voice  of  God  in  his  demise, — "  Be  thou  also 
ready." 

"  I  feel  it  as  a  voice  from  heaven,  announcing  my  own  ap- 
proaching exit.  I  deem  it  a  part  of  the  communion  of  saints  to 
take  a  share  in  your  sorrow,  and  to  hold  you  in  the  arms  of  sin- 
cere affection  before  the  throne  of  our  Father  and  our  God,  in 
earnest  prayer  and  pleading.  What  a  consolation ! — the  Re- 
deemer lives;  and  his  cause,  of  which  his  life  is  the  security, 
can  never  die.  You  feel  the  privation  as  the  loss  of  a  right  hand. 
O !  take  the  firmer  grasp  of  the  arm  of  covenanted  power.  It  is 
in  the  absence  of  created  props  that  we  feel  the  value  of  Divine 
support ;  and  it  may  be  the  design  of  heaven  to  remove  the 
trembling  reed,  in  order  to  bring  back  our  wandering  confidence 
to  the  cedar  of  Lebanon.  He  has  been  cut  down  in  a  state 
of  mellowed  ripeness  for  the  heavenly  garner.  For  two-and-fifty 
years  I  have  enjoyed  a  large  share  of  his  kind  affections.  I  can 
never  forget  my  obligations  to  him  at  Haddington,  in  giving  a  right 
direction  to  my  hesitating  and  trembling  young  mind  to  advance  in 
my  career  of  theological  study,  and  have  at  no  time  suffered  the 
pleasing  recollection  to  depart  from  me.  O  !  little  did  I  think  last 
Monday,  when  I  was  sending  off  letters  to  him,  on  the  arrangements 
of  the  trustees  of  the  Evangelical  Magazine,  and  had  scarce  a  mo- 
ment, in  the  hurry,  to  put  down  my  name,  that  at  that  moment  my 
beloved  friend  was  standing  on  die  verge  of  the  eternal  world.  How 
near  to  it  am  I  !" 


402  ANTICIPATIONS    OF    DEATH. 

In  the  following  communication  to  a  ministerial  friend,  he 


':  How  it  would  enliven  my  old  and  withered  heart,  my  dear  friend 
and  brother,  to  be  allowed  to  anticipate  the  meeting  to  which  you 
so  kindly  invite  me :  but  I  fear  my  enfeebled  frame  is  unequal  to 
the  fatigue.  I  feel  the  effects  of  my  tumble  at  Hackney-fields  to 
this  day.  When  a  man  gets  to  seventy-two,  it  is  all  up-hill  work 
to  recover  his  lost  ground.  I  have  frequently  been  obliged  to  have 
supplies  for  my  pulpit  this  winter ;  and  was  compelled  last  sum- 
mer to  decline  several  invitations  to  the  West  of  England.  Dr. 
Bogue  is  gone  ;  Mr.  Townsend  is  gone  ;  and  Messrs.  Hill,  Wilks, 
Burder,  Piatt,  and  myself,  may  very  soon  expect  an  order  to  strike 
our  tents  and  march — not  to  the  enemy's  country,  but  to  that  land 
to  which  all  our  fellow-soldiers,  who  fell  with  their  face  to  the  foe, 
have  gone  before  us. 

"  I  truly  rejoice  in  the  prospect  of  lengthened  usefulness,  which 
the  gracious  providence  of  God  has  opened  to  your  hopes.  May 
your  life  be  long,  and  your  usefulness  commensurate,  and  your  sun 
become  bigger  at  his  setting,  auguring  a  glorious  setting  in  a  sky 
without  a  cloud,  and  for  a  day  that  shall  have  no  close !  Then  all 
will  be  well. 

"  My  affectionate  regards  to  your  dearest  earthly  friend,  with  whom 
your  union  here  will  be  a  preparation  for  an  eternal  union  above. 
Ever,  ever,  my  very  dear  brother  and  friend  of  my  heart,  yours  most 
affectionately." 

To  his  nearness  to  death  he  occasionally  adverted  in  his 
family.  Sometimes  he  did  it  in  his  public  services,  and  then 
it  was  not  in  the  tone  of  affected  courage  and  rapture,  but 
with  the  calmness  and  the  delicacy  of  a  humble  spirit.  In 
public  meetings  he  alluded  to  it  at  times  with  powerful  effect, 
when  he  wished  to  speak  of  his  delight  in  spending  his  last 
hours  in  the  service  of  God  and  man,  and  of  the  pleasure  he 
felt  in  seeing  the  zeal,  talent,  and  piety  of  the  young  who 
were  to  enter  into  his  labors.  To  his  friends  he  spoke  of  it 
without  reserve,  and  well  do  we  remember  the  terms  in 
which  he  did  it  to  us  in  1825: — "I  shall  never  see  you 
again ;  I  am  going  home,  as  the  pious  old  man  said,  and  I 
have  a  good  home  to  go  to,  and  have  had  a  good  home  here ; 


ANTICIPATIONS    OF    DEATH.  403 

it  has  been  blessed  to  me  by  the  unwearied  kindness  of  a  duti- 
ful and  affectionate  family  ;  but  my  best  friends  are  in  heaven, 
and  I  have  a  desire  to  depart  and  to  be  with  Christ,  which  is 
far  better."  There  was  remarked  in  his  prayers  and  sermons 
also  a  tendency  stronger  than  ever  to  dwell  on  the  topics  of 
death  and  immortality,  and  the  consolations  which  religion  pro- 
vides to  prepare  us  for  both. 

1  low  beautifully  does  the  following  letter  to  his  wife  show  the 
solicitude  he  felt  to  reconcile  her  mind  to  the  temporary  separa- 
tion betwixt  them  which  he  saw  to  be  approaching !  It  was 
soothing  to  him  to  write  to  her  of  his  hope  in  death,  and  to  feel 
that,  as  his  infirmity  had  been  solaced  by  her  kindness,  his  death 
would  be  blessed  by  the  sympathy,  the  prayers,  and  the  minis- 
trations of  her  love. 

"  Harrowgate,  August  16,  1825. 
"  My  dearest  Mary, — In  my  state  of  confinement,  while  our 
dear  relations  are  out  gathering  health  and  vigor,  I  feel  a  relief 
to  my  mind  and  most  pure  delight  in  writing  to  you.  This  ought 
to  be  a  day  of  grave  reflection  to  my  own  mind.  For  seventy-one 
harvests  has  God  preserved  my  existence  in  this  world.  What 
goodness  hath  his  fatherly  providence  heaped  on  my  head  and 
poured  into  my  cup !  How  few  of  those  who  began  the  career 
of  life  with  me  have  reached  my  age  !  How  imperfectly  have  I 
answered  the  end  of  my  creation  !  What  have  I  done  in  compar- 
ison with  what  I  might  have  done  for  God,  for  his  church,  for 
my  dear  family,  for  my  own  soul !  What  a  blank  does  a  large 
portion  of  my  life  now  appear,  barren  of  improvement,  or  blot- 
ted with  guilt,  rising  up  against  me  in  sad  remembrance.  How 
precious  should  the  mediation  and  atoning  sacrifice  of  my  divine 
Redeemer  now  bo  to  my  soul,  supplying  the  only  foundation  of 
rational  hope,  and  the  only  balm  to  a  wounded  spirit !  I  cannot 
reasonably  look  forward  to  much  addition  to  my  life,  but  I  feel 
its  value  increasing  as  its  termination  every  day  draws  nearer. 
May  God,  by  his  good  Spirit,  enable  me  to  preach  more  ear- 
nestly, to  live  more  usefully,  to  endure  the  privations  and  pains 
of  the  dark  evening  of  life  more  submissively,  than  I  have 
hitherto  done  !  My  heart  hovers  around  you ;  and  everything 
within  that  sacred  enclosure  at  home  is  important  to  my  com- 
fort. 


404  LAST   PUBLIC    SERVICES. 

"  We  feel  every  day  more  sensibly  the  absence  of  yourself 
and  our  dear  suffering  Jeane.  You  are  our  constant  theme  at 
our  meals.  The  good  things  so  liberally  provided  for  us  to-day, 
would  have  been  a  thousand  times  more  relished  had  you  and 
Jeane  been  at  the  table.  We  never — we  cannot  for  an  hour  for- 
get you." 

It  is  a  most  interesting  circumstance,  that  he  was  not, 
though  so  infirm,  laid  aside  from  public  duty  for  one  Sab- 
bath by  the  illness  that  brought  him  to  the  grave.  This  was 
a  great  blessing  to  him ;  for  nothing  saddens  the  spirit  of  a 
minister  more  than  to  be  shut  out  from  the  sanctuary  and 
the  pulpit.  We  have  heard  one  apply  to  himself,  when  he 
heard  the  sound  of  the  people's  feet  passing  his  dwelling,  the 
wwds  of  the  Psalmist,  "  My  soul  is  poured  out  in  me,  when 
I  think  that  I  had  gone  with  the  multitude  to  the  house  of 
God."  Another  excellent  old  man,  who  lived  to  a  consider- 
ably greater  age  than  Dr.  Waugh,  and  who  preached  the  last 
Sabbath  but  one  that  he  was  on  earth,  once  said  to  a  friend, 
"  The  longer  you  live,  you  will  be  the  more  eager  to  preach." 
A  melancholy  impression  of  being  useless  and  forgotten  preys 
on  the  mind  in  the  confinement  of  infirmity  and  solitude. 
And  this  God  does  in  kindness  to  his  people;  for  there  is 
certainly  a  power  in  the  prayers  and  discourses  of  one  wTho 
seems  to  stand  on  the  brink  of  the  grave,  which  could  not  be 
experienced  amidst  the  animation  of  youthful  eloquence.  His 
language  has  all  the  solemnity  of  a  dying  testimony,  and  all 
the  tenderness  of  a  last  farewell. 

Dr.  Waugh  caught  cold  during  the  last  week  of  November, 
1827,  which  produced  a  cough  and  sore  throat.  On  Sabbath, 
December  2,  these  kept  him  at  home  in  the  morning,  but  in  the 
afternoon  he  went  to  the  chapel  with  one  of  his  daughters,  and 
preached  in  the  evening  to  his  young  people  from  Ephesians  iv. 
18, — "Having  the  understanding  darkened,  being  alienated  from 
the  life  of  God  through  the  ignorance  that  is  in  them,  because 
of  the  blindness  of  their  heart." 

He  wras  particularly  animated  and  impressive  on  this  occa- 
sion :  the  passage  was  admirably  calculated  to  expose  those 


LAST    PUBLIC    SERVICES.  405 

false  views  of  human  nature,  of  human  character,  and  human 

lit'.-,  which  the  inexperience  of  youth,  and  its  gay  and  romantic 
spirit,  are  so  likely  to  form.  It  led  him  to  expose  that  deprav- 
ity of  heart  which  renders  childhood  and  youth  vanity,  and  to 
exhibit  the  value  of  that  saving  knowledge  which  does  not,  like 
human  science,  leave  the  heart  under  the  power  of  corruption, 
but  transforms  by  the  renewing  of  the  mind,  and  sheds  around 
a  light  far  more  lovely  and  cheerful  than  the  morning's  fairest 
dawn.  It  led  him  to  descant  on  the  life  of  God,  the  life  to 
which  he  quickens,  the  life  which  he  blesses,  the  life  which 
resembles  his  own  ;  and  to  press  on  the  young  to  seek  that  life, 
as  a  life  incomparably  superior  to  one  praised  by  the  world  as 
merry,  fortunate,  or  glorious.  How  blessed  in  old  age  to  look 
back  on  this  life  of  God,  and  to  see  it  passing  into  the  life  of 
heaven  ! 

During  the  following  week  he  was  in  good  health,  except 
suffering  slightly  from  his  cold,  and  was  uncommonly  cheer- 
ful and  happy.  On  the  Saturday  morning  he  said  to  his 
wife,  "  Mary,  I  have  been  very  happy,  for  I  have  had  such  a 
delightful  dream !  I  thought  I  was  lying  at  the  foot  of  a 
hill,  the  grass  was  so  green,  and  the  gowans  were  so  beauti- 
ful, the  birds  were  singing  so  sweetly,  and  a  rivulet  ran  by 
my  feet;  you  were  sitting  by  my  side.  It  was  heaven  or 
Gordon,  I  know  not  which  1"  We  attach  little  importance 
to  dreams ;  but  this  one  may  be  regarded  as  a  proof  of  the 
peculiar  cheerfulness  of  his  fancy.  The  dreams  of  the  old 
are  generally  dark  and  troubled.  This  arises  from  the  influ- 
ence of  a  frail  and  sickly  body  upon  the  mind,  and  from  the 
peculiar  hold  which  past  scenes  of  pain,  sadness,  or  tenor, 
maintain  on  it ;  but  his  fancy  led  hiin  in  sleep  to  the  gayest 
season  of  his  life,  when,  amidst  the  seclusion  and  beauty  of 
his  native  hills,  his  spirit  opened  to  piety  and  his  heart  to 
goodness.  It  is  a  pleasing  proof  of  the  benignity  of  Provi- 
dence, that  the  sweet  scenes  of  early  life  are,  even  in  that  pe- 
riod of  thoughtlessness,  so  deeply  graven  on  the  tablet  of  the 
heart,  that  the  memory  can  trace  them  in  all  their  brightness 
and  beauty,  in   lauds  however  distant,  in  scenes  however  op- 


406  LAST    PUBLIC    SERVICES. 

posite,  and  amidst  the  gloom  of  age  and  infirmity ;  nay,  it  can 
associate  with  them  circumstances  and  feelings  which  heighten 
their  charms  and  our  enjoyment. 

On  Sabbath,  the  9th  of  December,  he  went  in  the  morn- 
ing to  Albion  Chapel.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Gray  preached  the 
action  sermon,  as  it  was  the  day  of  his  communion,  from 
Romans  v.  8.  Dr.  Waugh  took  the  last  words  of  the  text 
for  the  subject  of  his  address  at  the  second  table ;  and  a  very 
competent  judge  has  assured  us,  that  he  never  heard  him 
condense  more  matter  in  so  short  a  time,  or  speak  with  more 
pathos  than  in  that  address.  There  was  an  astonishing 
power  felt  in  such  strokes  as  these, — "  Lay  your  hand  on 
this,  my  brother ;  '  Christ  died  for  us  /'  Show  it  as  your 
answer  to  all  the  accusations  of  conscience,  present  it  to  the 
king  of  terrors  as  your  security  from  his  sting,  and  hold  it 
up  at  the  bar  of  judgment  as  your  plea  for  the  enjoyment  of 
life  everlasting."  Such,  we  have  no  doubt,  was  the  exercise 
and  purpose  of  his  own  soul  in  that  solemn  service.  It  is  a 
striking  circumstance,  that  the  communion  was  preparatory, 
both  to  himself  and  to  that  accomplished  young  minister 
whom  he  was  assisting,  for  eternity.  Dr.  Waugh  was  in 
heaven  before  the  next  Sabbath,  and  Mr.  Gray  was  able  only 
to  preach  a  funeral  sermon  for  his  venerable  father ;  and  hav- 
ing paid  that  tribute  to  his  character,  left  the  pulpit,  never 
to  return  to  it  more.*  Dr.  Waugh  preached  the  evening 
discousre  at  Albion  Chapel  from  these  words,  Heb.  xii.  1, — 
"Let  us  lay  aside  the  sin  which  doth  so  easily  beset  us." 
This  subject  was  admirably  adapted  for  leading  him  to  set 
before  his  audience  the  pledge  they  had  that  day  given  to  run 
the  Christian  race,  the  obligations  to  do  so  under  which  the 
cross  of  our  Lord  had  brought  them,  the  hinderances  to  the 
active  and  happy  prosecution  of  it  arising  from  the  corrup- 
tions of  the  heart,  excited  by  the  scenes  of  business,  folly, 
and  pleasure,  with  which  they  were  surrounded ;  and  the 
advantages  of  that  self-denial  and  moral   discipline  in  which 

*  A  posthumous  volume  of  Mr.  Gray's  Sermons,  with  a  short  Me- 
moir prefixed,  has  been  published. 


LAST    PUBLIC    SERVICES.  407 

the  heart  is  kept  with  all  diligence,  and  the  life  is  preserved 
unspotted  from  the  world.  What  an  advantage  was  such  a 
discourse  from  such  a  man  ! — a  discourse  rich  in  the  counsels 
of  experience,  delivered  in  the  tone  of  paternal  admonition,  and 
proceeding  from  the  lips  of  one  who  had  so  long  trod  the  path 
of  the  just,  and  who,  in  the  near  prospect  of  its  close,  evidently 
felt  the  solicitude  of  Paul,  that  he  might  finish  with  joy  his 
course  and  the  ministry  which  he  had  received  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  It  may  be  viewed  as  a  testimony  from  Heaven  against 
that  specious  antnomianism  which  was  the  nattempting  to  delude 
the  religious  world ;  and  it  was  the  will  of  God,  that  such  a 
friend  to  the  doctrines  of  grace,  and  such  a  son  of  consolation, 
should  close  his  official  duty  with  these  words  of  holy  admoni- 
tion, and  raise  his  voice  for  the  last  time  in  calling  for  the  sac- 
rifice of  every  passion,  however  urgent,  of  every  indulgence, 
however  dear,  of  every  folly,  however  fashionable,  and  of  every 
opinion,  however  popular,  by  which  the  sanctity  of  the  christian 
name  might  be  sullied,  holy  duties  impeded,  and  virtuous  pur- 
poses quenched. 

He  reached  home  well,  and  on  entering  the  parlor  re- 
marked to  his  wife,  "  I  am  much  better,  my  dear ;  preach- 
ing is  the  best  cure  for  a  cold."  When  it  was  proposed  to 
him,  after  supper,  that  he  should  go  into  his  easy  chair  by 
the  fire,  which  was  his  usual  custom,  he  refused,  and  said 
"  that  he  wished  to  sit  and  look  at  his  dear  family,  and  that 
he  felt  more  than  commonly  happy."  He  sat  up  later  than 
usual,  and  talked  most  cheerfully  of  the  days  of  his  youth. 
God  sometimes  marks  the  closing  intercourse  of  a  good  man 
with  his  family  with  peculiar  tenderness  and  sweetness,  and 
sutlers  it  not  to  be  marred  by  any  sad  forebodings.  Thus 
does  he  reward  the  prayers  of  domestic  piety  and  the  fidelity 
of  domestic  love ;  and  thus  the  hearts  of  survivors  are  soothed 
even  while  they  are  pained  by  the  thought,  that  the  eyes 
now  closed  in  death  were  lighted  up  with  such  affection,  and 
that  the  face  now  pale  and  cold,  glowed  with  such  parting 
kindness. 

He  rose    early  on  the  Monday  morning,  and  it  required 


408  HIS    LAST    ILLNESS. 

great  persuasion  to  induce  him  to  return  to  his  bed  for  an  hour 
longer.  During  the  day  he  was  quite  well  and  cheerful ;  at 
dinner  he  looked  very  florid,  and  his  family  expressed  their 
delight  at  seeing  him  look  so  fresh  and  well.  In  the  afternoon 
he  went  out  to  a  young  friend's  house  in  the  neighborhood  to 
take  tea,  and  returned  home  at  half-past  seven.  He  had 
walked  to  and  from  his  friend's,  and  complained  of  his  feet 
being  wet,  but  was  otherwise  well.  He  read  from  Dr.  Mor- 
rison's Exposition  of  the  Psalms  to  his  family,  and  passed  on  it 
various  merited  encomiums.  At  half-past  eight  a  person  called 
to  request  him  to  visit  one  who  was  dying,  and  who  was  un- 
happy in  her  mind.  Mrs.  Waugh  was  unwilling  that  he 
should  go  out  at  so  late  an  hour  in  his  weak  state ;  but  it  was 
the  wish  of  his  heart  to  go,  even  at  the  risk  of  his  health. 
Age  did  not  chill  his  sympathy  with  human  woe;  frailty  kept 
not  his  steps  from  the  chamber  of  sickness ;  and  however  con- 
siderate prudence  might  remonstrate  about  the  inexpediency  of 
the  effort,  and  insist  on  its  being  postponed  to  another  day, 
the  wish  was  pious,  and  it  was  good  that  it  was  in  his  heart. 
While  they  were  talking  about  it,  he  suddenly  exclaimed, 
"  I  cannot  go  to  see  her,  I  am  very  ill !"  He  felt  a  great 
tendency  to  retch,  but  could  not;  and  his  mind  was  much 
affected  on  account  of  his  inability  to  visit  this  dying  person, 
and  he  exclaimed,  "  O  dear,  dear,  what  a  sad  pity  it  is  that 
people  will  leave  these  things  to  the  last !"  It  was  the  idea 
that  the  sick  person  was  in  agony  about  her  salvation,  which 
made  his  inability  to  go  and  point  her  views  to  the  hope  of 
the  Gospel  so  painful  to  him.  The  folly  he  bewailed,  is  the 
most  common  of  all  others,  and  the  most  fatal.  It  leaves  to 
the  last  moment  what  should  be  the  care  of  life,  and  cherishes 
a  security  and  presumption  which  cover  the  death-bed  with 
horror. 

He  was  assisted  to  his  bed;  after  which  he  felt  more 
comfortable,  though  still  uneasy.  His  daughter  Jeane  was 
standing  uear,  and  he  put  out  his  hand  to  her,  and  said, 
"  Let  me  talk  to  you,  my  lamb ;  for  I  am  very  ill,  and  I 
shall  never  get  up  any  more."     She  begged  him  to  endeavor 


HIS    DEATII-BED.  409 

to  sleep,  and  said  that  he  would  be  better,  and  work  very  hard 
yet  for  his  Master's  sake.  To  this  he  replied,  "  No,  no,  my 
child ;  my  work  is  done.  Let  me  talk  to  you  while  I  can ;  I 
have  very  little  time."  lie  then  spoke  of  the  necessity  of  be- 
ing constantly  ready  for  death,  and  gave  some  solemn  coun- 
sels. It  is  natural  for  the  affectionate  heart  to  speak  the  lan- 
guage of  hope  to  sick  friends ;  but  there  is  often  a  conscious- 
ness of  approaching  dissolution  which  rejects  such  suggestions ; 
and  while  the  timid  and  the  unprepared  catch  at  every  hint, 
the  wise  will  feel  that  the  time  of  their  departure  is  at  hand, 
and  will  dedicate  a  portion  of  their  last  hours  to  the  salvation 
of  those  with  whom  they  wish  to  live  forever.  How  melting 
are  the  counsels  of  a  dying  parent,  when  the  eye  of  love  is 
fixing  for  the  last  time  on  its  object,  and  when  things  eternal 
open  with  a  power  and  grandeur  on  the  mind,  to  a  degree 
never  felt  before ! 

His  spirits  now  rapidly  sank.  He  asked  for  his  sons,  and 
said :  "  Send  for  them ;  they  are  good  lads,  and  I  cannot  die 
in  peace  without  seeing  them."  On  being  assured  that  they 
were  sent  for,  he  replied,  "  God  bless  you,  my  child !  God 
bless  you !" 

Mrs.  Waugh  left  the  apartment  to  prepare  some  restorative ; 
and  his  daughter  remained  behind  the  curtains,  where  he  did 
not  see  her.  In  a  few  minutes  he  commenced  prayer,  and 
prayed  most  earnestly  for  his  dear  wife  and  family,  closing 
with  these  words,  "  Amen,  amen.  So  grant  it,  Lord  Jesus !" 
It  is  most  soothing  to  a  good  man  to  leave  with  God  those 
to  whose  welfare  he  can  no  longer  minister ;  and  most  pleas- 
ing to  the  Redeemer  are  prayers  which  are  the  last  expres- 
sion of  human  affection,  and  are  honorable  to  his  guardian 
care. 

He  next  prayed  for  his  congregation,  and  for  the  preachers 
of  the  Gospel  who  had  come  to  London  to  assist  him  in  his 
labors,  closing  with  the  same  words  as  the  foregoing.  Every 
Sabbath  his  people  heard  his  earnest  pleadings  with  God  for 
their  spiritual  and  eternal  welfare;  and  it  must  affect  them 
very  deeply  when  they  know  that  their  salvation  had  a  large 

18 


410  HIS    DEATH-BED. 

share  in  the  last  solicitude  of  their  pastor's  heart,  and  that  he 
could  not  die  till  he  had  committed  them  to  the  Good  Shep- 
herd and  Bishop  of  souls. 

He  prayed  also  for  the  London  Missionary  Society,  and 
closed  his  supplication  with  the  same  words.  How  like  was 
this  conduct  to  that  of  David,  who  began  his  last  prayer  with 
supplication  for  Solomon,  but  whose  heart  rose  as  he  advanced 
to  Messiah's  reign  and  triumphs,  and  closed  it  with  the  wish, 
"  Let  the  whole  earth  be  filled  with  his  glory !  Amen  and 
amen." 

He  then  prayed  for  all  the  good  men  with  whom  he  had 
been  associated  in  the  exercises  of  piety  and  beneficence,  and 
ended  in  the  same  manner.  Last  of  all  he  prayed  for  himself: 
"O  God,  enable  me  to  bear  with  patience  and  resignation 
whatever  it  is  thy  will  to  impose,  and  do  not  suffer  me  to  bring 
discredit  on  my  profession  by  unsuitable  feelings  or  language. 
If  it  be  thy  pleasure,  grant  me  this  night  refreshing  sleep." 
He  did  not  finish  his  last  prayer  audibly,  but  stopped,  and 
remained  quiet  for  some  time.  How  remarkable  is  such  a 
series  of  prayers !  He  was  peculiarly  distinguished  in  his  life 
and  ministry  by  his  prayers ;  and  it  is  a  beautiful  circumstance, 
that  on  him,  in  his  last  hour,  the  spirit  of  grace  and  supplica- 
tion rested  in  such  a  measure. 

Two  of  his  sons  reached  his  house  a  little  after  eleven ; 
but  a  few  minutes  before  their  arrival,  he  was  seized  with 
apoplexy,  and  partial  paralysis.  The  best  medical  assistance 
was  instantly  procured,  and  the  surgeon  bled  him  copiously 
from  the  temporal  artery.  By  this  time  his  kind  friend  Dr. 
Darling  had  arrived,  who  continued  with  him  till  about  two, 
when  the  convulsions  had  ceased.  In  a  short  time  he  recog- 
nized Mrs.  Waugh,  held  out  his  hand  to  her,  and  muttered 
"  Wipe  my  face,  my  life,  I  am  better  now,  my  dears."  Ex- 
treme thirst  came  on,  and  his  requests  for  soda-water  were 
incessant.  He  looked  up  at  one  time  to  his  daughter,  and 
said,  "Pity  me,  pity  me!  for  I  perish  for  thirst:  O,  for  a 
draught  of  the  water  of  the  well  of  Bethlehem  !"  How  beau- 
tifully does  this  expression  exhibit  the  piety  and   the  snlritu- 


HIS    DEATH-BED.  411 

ality  of  his  mind  !  Domestic  love  ministers  in  its  kindest  form 
and  never  was  there  a  heart  to  which  its  tones  were  more 
soothing,  or  its  hand  more  sweet ;  but  there  was  a  voice  still 
more  soft,  to  which  his  ear  was  open,  and  a  hand  still  more 
tender,  for  which  his  heart  sighed. 

At  an  early  hour  of  the  morning  all  of  his  family  who  were 
in  London  had  assembled  at  his  house.  Often  had  they  come 
to  be  directed  by  his  counsel  and  cheered  by  his  smile ;  now 
they  came  to  testify  their  sympathy  and  their  love,  and  to 
receive  his  last  blessing. 

In  reference  to  the  subsequent  account  of  his  parting  hours 
it  may  be  here  noticed,  that  although  Dr.  Waugh's  family 
were  present  in  his  bed-room  almost  every  minute  during  the 
three  following  days  of  his  life,  yet  such  was  the  nature  of 
his  illness,  as  affecting  both  his  body  and  his  mind, — such, 
the  restlessness  it  brought  upon  the  one,  and  the  alternating 
periods  of  darkness  and  light,  of  wandering  and  composure, 
upon  the  other, — that  every  individual  relative  was  con- 
stantly engaged  in  some  necessary  work  of  ministration 
during  the  whole  period.  So  incessantly,  indeed,  were  their 
minds  occupied  and  excited,  that  they  were  precluded,  as  it 
were,  from  thoroughly  realizing  to  themselves  the  true  nature 
of  the  visitation,  until  they  gazed  upon  the  pale  face  of 
their  dead  parent.  The  very  circumstances  that  heightened 
the  interest  of  the  scene  while  it  was  passing,  and  the  ex- 
treme anxiety  of  his  family  to  preserve  entire  every  senti- 
ment and  expression  that  he  uttered,  tended  to  unfit  them 
for  the  subsequent  task  of  furnishing  a  minute  and  methodi- 
cal account.  It  was  like  the  changeful  and  evanescent  bril- 
liancy of  a  beautiful  sunset — a  scene  to  raise  the  soul  and 
absorb  the  faculties  of  the  beholder,  but  which  even  the 
hand  of  genius  must  fail  to  portray  to  others  with  the  im- 
pressive truth  and  delicacy  of  nature.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that 
in  the  following  simple  narrative  are  preserved  a  few  of  the 
most  interesting  scenes  and  sayings  that  gave  character  and 
moral  dignity  to  the  death-bed  of  this  servant  of  Christ, — 
being  such  as  were  committed  to  paper  on  the  day  after  his 


412  HIS   DEATH-BED. 

decease  by  different  members  of  the  family,  and  of  which  the 
fidelity  was  ascertained  by  mutual  collation. 

His  mind  from  this  period  began  to  wander ;  though  on  every 
topic  on  which  he  spoke,  his  language  was  suitable,  and  the 
spirit  of  his  conversation  the  same  holy  and  kind  one  that  had 
so  long  hallowed  it.  All  his  thoughts  were  bent  towards 
works  of  benevolence  and  mercy  ;  and  much  of  what  he  said 
was  evidently  directed  to  the  reconciling  of  differences  that 
existed  betwixt  good  men,  who  had  referred  their  matters  of 
dispute  to  his  judgment  and  prudence.  Although  thus  stretch- 
ed upon  the  bed  of  mortal  sickness,  so  that  the  voice  of  his 
admonition  could  no  more  reach  their  ears,  the  ear  of  that  God 
who  has  the  hearts  and  the  tempers  of  all  men  under  his  mer- 
ciful and  powerful  control,  was  still  op<'n  to  the  voice  of  that 
generous  and  humble  prayer,  which,  in  his  closet  and  on  his 
bended  knees,  had  often  been  presented  on  behalf  of  the  weak 
and  the  erring. 

When  Dr.  Darling  again  called,  he  ordered  ice  to  be  applied 
to  his  head,  and  requested  his  family  to  read  to  him  as  much 
as  possible,  in  order  to  allay  the  exercise  of  his  own  thoughts, 
and  keep  him  from  too  much  speaking.  While  reading  to 
him,  he  often  interrupted  the  reader  to  make  his  own  remarks 
on  the  passages.  The  portions  read  were  chiefly  from  works 
of  sacred  poetry,  which  he  had  been  accustomed  to  admire  for 
their  sublimity  and  beauty ;  and  he  showed  that  he  was  as 
much  alive  as  ever  to  their  merit  and  their  power.  So  entire 
(although  thus  morbidly  excited)  was  his  mind,  and  so  nice 
was  his  ear,  that  again  and  again  he  corrected  an  improper 
emphasis  of  the  reader. 

During  the  whole  of  Tuesday  he  was  restless.  He  was 
often  lifted  at  his  own  request  out  of  bed  by  his  sons,  and 
his  thirst  continued  very  distressing.  His  cough  was  very 
violent ;  and  he  said,  "  I  feel  as  if  there  was  a  stone  in  my 
lungs."  His  impression  during  all  his  illness  was,  that  he 
should  burst  a  blood-vessel.  He  frequently  exclaimed,  "  O, 
my  friends,  my  friends,  pray  for  me!  for  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  has  stricken  me.     Pray  that  I  may  be  submissive,  and 


ins   DBATH-BED.  413 

enabled  to  exhibit  the  suffering  graces,  and  not  bring  disgrace 
on  my  holy  profession  ! 

During  this  day  more  blood  was  taken  from  him.  On 
being  asked  how  he  was,  lie  replied,  "  I  am  very  ill,  but 
just  where  it  has  pleased  God  to  place  me;  pray  for  me,  that 
1  may  not  be  impatient."  Though  long  inured  to  pain  and 
sickness,  it  had  now  come  upon  him  to  a  degree  he  never 
knew  before,  and  he  felt  more  need  than  ever  of  the  grace 
which  can  strengthen  to  all  long-suffering  and  patience  with 
joyfulness.  In  severe  pain  many  a  sufferer  has  expressed 
himself  harshly  to  friends  around  him,  and  checked  their  in- 
quiries as  useless  and  teasing.  Pain  and  anxiety  are  the 
great  trials  for  a  gentle  spirit;  but  in  his  illness  the  benig- 
nity of  his  nature  was  never  for  a  moment  ruffled,  and  to 
everything  that  was  said  to  him,  his  replies  were  sweet  and 
kind. 

On  the  arrival  of  one  of  his  daughters  from  the  country, 
she  (anxious  to  satisfy  herself  of  the  state  of  his  perceptive 
faculties)  whispered  to  him,  "Do  you  know  me,  father?" 
He  replied,  "  To  be  sure ;  you  are  my  youngest  child, 
my  good  daughter."  And  he  raised  his  head  and  kissed 
her. 

Referring  to  a  paper  written  by  a  dear  friend  in  a  late 
number  of  the  Evangelical  Magazine,  under  the  title  of  Eli- 
jah's Journey,  he  expressed  how  much  it  refreshed  him ;  and 
said  to  his  children :  "  My  journey  is  near  its  close ;  all  the 
way  by  which  God  has  led  me  has  been  mercy  and  truth  ; 
I  have  his  light  still  to  guide  me,  and  that  staff  to  support 
me  on  which  I  have  so  long  leaned ;  and  the  blood  of  Christ 
is  the  only  staff  I  need  in  my  way  to  the  grave.  It  is  a 
blessed  journey  which  ends  in  heaven."  The  vale  of  death 
is  dark,  rugged,  and  lonely,  as  described  in  his  charming  lec- 
ture on  the  twenty-third  Psalm  :  but  he  felt,  even  under  the 
partial  eclipse  of  his  faculties,  and  amidst  the  cloudy  vapors 
of  the  shadow  of  death,  that  the  Good  Shepherd  was  there. 
He  looked  to  his  rod  for  direction,  and  to  his  staff  for  sup- 
port; and   testified  that  in   the  light  of  his  countenance  all 


414  HIS    DEATH-BED. 

is  cheering,  and  in  the  power  of  his  might  the  most  burdened 
and  feeble  shall  neither  stumble  nor  faint. 

While  adverting  to  the  Evangelical  Magazine,  he  deeply 
regretted  that  more  was  not  done  in  Scotland  for  its  circula- 
tion, as  one  hundred  pounds  of  its  funds  went  yearly  to  the 
families  of  deceased  ministers  there.  The  care  of  ministers' 
families  was  a  subject  ever  near  to  his  heart ;  and  as  during 
his  days  of  activity  he  had  willingly  devoted  many  an  hour 
of  toil  to  serve  the  cause  of  the  widow  and  the  fatherless,  so 
now,  in  his  last  moments,  the  same  object  called  forth  his 
anxious  concern,  and  had  the  interest  of  his  dying  prayers. 
On  the  Wednesday  the  symptoms  of  the  disease  appeared  more 
aggravated,  and  his  mind  more  wandering.  Dr.  Darling 
having  again  expressed  himself  most  anxious  that  his  patient 
should  be  kept  from  talking,  he  said,  "  I'll  be  as  dumb  as  a 
heathen  god."  His  family,  to  occupy  his  thoughts,  read  and 
repeated  hymns  to  him  incessantly ;  and  it  is  most  worthy  of 
remark,  that  when  this  plan  failed  occasionally  to  compose  his 
mind,  the  reading  of  any  portion  of  the  Bible  immediately 
succeeded  in  doing  so,  and  was  listened  to  by  him  with  the 
most  silent  and  devout  attention.  It  is  painful  to  surround- 
ing friends  when  the  last  illness  of  a  dear  relative  is  attended 
with  partial  delirium,  and  when  a  season,  every  moment  of 
which  is  so  precious,  seems  lost ;  but  there  is  cause  for  grati- 
tude to  God  when  the  mental  cloud  is  neither  total  nor  con- 
stant, and  w7hen  the  mind  of  the  sufferer  points  to  scenes  sola- 
cing to  himself,  and  which  do  not  suggest  reflections  distressing 
to  others. 

At  an  eary  hour  on  Thursday  morning,  under  an  impres- 
sion that  he  was  in  the  vestry  (an  idea  that  prevailed  much 
in  his  mind  during  his  illness),  he  looked  at  one  of  his  sons, 
and  supposing  him  to  be  the  minister  who  had  come  from 
Scotland  to  assist  him,  said,  "Pray  a  word,  sir,  while  the 
coach  is  coming."  He  then  began  to  consider  what  the  fare 
of  the  coach  would  be ;  and  one  of  his  sons,  to  compose  his 
mind,  said,  "  We  will  see  that  this  man  does  not  impose  on 
us."     "  Yes,  yes,"  he   replied ;    "  but  we  must  see  that  we 


JUS    DliATlI-JJEU.  415 

do  not  impose  upon  kim.n  Thus  did  his  habitual  jealousy  of 
self-interest,  and  his  anxiety,  alike  in  the  most  trivial  and  the 
most  important  affairs,  to  act  up  to  the  high  standard  of 
Christian  uprightness,  manifest  themselves  even  in  the  wander- 
ing of  his  intellect.  And  such  incidents,  trivial  as  they  appear, 
exhibit  beautifully  the  true  nature  of  Gospel  principle,  which 
sanctities  every  habit  of  the  mind,  and  stamps  on  it  a  character 
which  even  delirium  cannot  efface  ;  for  it  is  the  stamp  of  God, 
and  will  last  for  eternity. 

Mrs.  Waugh,  with  a  view  to  soothe  and  occupy  him,  said 
(as  if  continuing  the  supposed   conversation  in  the  vestry), 

"Will  you  pray,  my  dear?     Mr.  E would  rather  not." 

lie  said,  "  To  be  sure :  can  we  do  better  than  part  at  a  throne 
of  grace  ?"  She  exclaimed,  "  O  what  a  parting  is  this  V  He 
replied,  "  Parting  !  Is  it  not  a  very  good  one  ?"  And,  folding 
his  hands,  he  prayed  most  collectedly,  and  in  a  form  so 
heavenly,  that  it  was  observed,  "  If  this  be  his  death-bed,  O 
that  God  would  take  him  at  this  moment !"  Such  a  prayer, 
in  such  circumstances,  was  the  best  consolation  his  weeping 
family  could  receive  ;  and  that  strength  of  the  Redeemer  which 
was  made  perfect  in  his  weakness  was  felt  sustaining  them  in 
theirs. 

During  this  day  he  repeated  the  story  of  the  minister  who 
was  told  he  was  going  to  receive  his  reward.  "  Reward  ? 
No,  no;  I  am  going  to  receive  mercy!  mercy/"  On  these 
words  he  laid  peculiar  emphasis.  What  a  memorable  testi- 
mony to  the  honor  of  divine  grace  was  this  !  When  his  Lord 
came,  he  found  him  kneeling  at  his  footstool,  a  suppliant  for 
mercy. 

He  frequently  exclaimed,  "  0  my  country  !  my  country  !" 
Though  he  took  little  interest  in  party  politics,  he  was  warmly 
attached  to  the  liberties  and  constitution  of  his  country,  and 
had  evinced  his  firm  loyalty  on  various  trying  occasions.  It 
was  the  moral  aspect  of  our  country  in  these  latter  days  that 
rose  before  his  mind ;  and  while  he  viewed  it  in  a  more  favor- 
able light  than  many  do,  he  felt  sad  at  the  thought  of  our 
ingratitude  amidst  such  blessing*  as  are  enjoyed,  at  the  luxury 


416  HIS    DEATH-BED. 

and  dissipation  that  prevail  in  the  higher  classes,  and  the  dis- 
content in  the  lower ;  and  it  was  his  prayer  that  Britain  might 
be  more  and  more  a  praise  in  the  earth  for  something  nobler 
than  her  science,  arts,  and  victories — even  for  the  light  of 
sacred  truth,  the  purity  of  her  worship,  and  the  virtues  of 
Christian  character. 

When  a  slight  improvement  in  his  appearance  was  men- 
tioned to  him,  he  replied,  "  I  feel  a  little  better  ;  but  it  is  like 
lying  on  a  hot  summer  day  at  the  foot  of  a  stay*  brae :  we 
forget  that  we  have  yet  to  climb  it."  How  beautiful  was  this 
image  ! — and  most  true  it  is  of  the  tendency  of  human  nature, 
in  all  scenes  and  at  all  periods  ;  but  he  could  not  allow  it  to 
pass,  even  in  his  last  moments,  without  clothing  it  in  terms 
which  carried  his  mind  back  to  the  scenes  of  infancy  and 
boyhood ;  probably  imparting  to  them  individuality,  as  his 
mind,  now  more  earnestly  fixed  on  the  luminous  hills  of 
another  and  a  better  country,  gave  a  rapid  and  parting 
glance  at  Stitchell  Brae,  or  the  precipitous  banks  of  Redpath 
Dean. 

He  repeatedly  adverted  with  much  feeling  to  the  great  and 
unremitting  kindness  of  his  congregation  to  himself  and  his 
family  during  the  long  period  that  he  had  been  their  pastor. 
It  must  be  a  source  of  inexpressible  consolation  to  his  bereaved 
people,  that  their  liberal,  dutiful,  and  affectionate  treatment  of 
their  minister,  while  it  secured  comfort  to  his  heart  and  his 
household  during  his  life,  cheered  him  also  on  his  death-bed, 
and  filled  even  the  clouded  visions  of  his  wandering  intellect 
with  sweet  and  grateful  recollections. 

During  Thursday  his  strength  became  quite  prostrate,  and 
he  could  make  no  effort  to  raise  himself  in  bed,  but  was 
lifted,  when  it  was  necessary,  by  his  four  sons.  One  of  them 
said,  "  Father,  do  you  know  where  you  are  ?"  "  Yes,  as- 
suredly ;  in  my  own  house,"  he  replied.  Being  asked, 
"  Do  you  know  that  you  are  dying  ?"  "  Yes,  I  know,"  said 
he,  "  that  I  am  dying ;  and  my  mind  is  as  much  composed 
at  this  moment  as  any  man's  in  London."  One  of  his 
*  Steep. 


HIS    DEATH-BED.  41*7 

family  inquiring  if  he  was  able  to  tell  the  state  of  his  mind, 
he  said,  "  I  will  try."  After  having  spoken  in  general  terms 
of  the  depravity  of  human  nature,  he  added,  "  Uut  I  am 
thankful  for  the  remedy  provided — I  am  thankful  for  the 
word  of  truth.  I  have  endeavored  to  live  as  near  to  the 
rule  as  I  could  :  I  cannot  say  that  I  have  experienced  the 
degree  of  assurance  and  close  communion  with  God  which 
some  have  been  privileged  to  attain  ;  but  I  have  lived  by 
faith,  and  I  die  in  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God.  And  this  [ 
know,  that  '  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  princi- 
palities, nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to  come, 
nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  separate 
me  from  the  love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord  :' " 
then  emphatically  elevating  his  hand,  he  added,  with  earn- 
estness, "  This  is  enough  for  me ;"  and  pointing  to  those 
who  surrounded  his  bed,  "  and  for  you,  and  for  you,  and  for 
you  /" 

While  we  see  a  man  of  such  eminent  piety  expressing 
himself  with  so  much  modesty  and  caution  of  his  religious 
assurance,  it  is  with  feelings  of  disgust  that  we  must  think 
of  the  confidence  of  unruly  and  vain  talkers  on  this  subject. 
The  boast  of  assurance  is  too  often  the  result  of  excited  pas- 
sion, or  of  strong  delusion  ;  and  we  can  say,  that  in  our  exten- 
sive observation  of  death-bed  scenes,  the  language  of  rapture 
has  sometimes  come  from  persons  whose  sad  deficiency  in  the 
temper  of  Christ  we  had  marked  with  grief  and  pain,  and 
that  the  holiest  and  the  best  have  died  with  a  peace  and  hope, 
grateful  but  lowly,  firm  but  mild.  The  order  in  which  the 
blessed  Spirit  exhibits  the  attainments  he  forms  is  most 
instructive :  he  leads  to  righteousness,  and  thus  to  peace,  and 
thus  to  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  was  a  beautiful  indication 
of  his  affection  for  his  family,  that  he  wished  the  consolation 
of  his  death-bed  to  be  the  happiness  of  their  life,  and  that 
separation  from  an  earthly  father  might  be  soothed  by  the 
impression  of  their  interest  in  that  Divine  love  which  should 
ever  work  in  its  power  on  their  feelings,  and  ever  rest  in  its 
blessings  on  their  hearts. 

18* 


418  HIS    DEATH-BED. 

One  of  his  children  said  to  him,  "  Father,  do  you  know  us 
all  ?"  He  replied,  "  Certainly  ;"  and  accompanied  this  expres- 
sion by  casting  his  eyes  around  the  circle.  It  was  then  asked, 
"  Father,  have  you  anything  to  say  to  us  ?"  He  answered, 
"  No ;  you  have  conducted  yourselves  so  well,  that  you  must 
just  do  as  you  have  done.  Love  one  another  ;  be  kind  to  your 
mother ;  try  to  get  into  closer  communion  betwixt  God  and 
yourselves,  and  be  much  in  your  closet.  With  regard  to  com- 
munion with  God,  I  have  never  liked  to  speak  much  of  this  in 
company,  and  for  two  reasons  ; — if  your  communion  has  been 
very  profitable,  the  world  will  put  down  all  you  say  to  vanity, 
and  think  that  you  want  to  make  yourself  as  great  a  man  as 
Martin  Luther  or  John  Brown ; — and  if  you  tell  the  world  all 
that  passes  between  you  and  your  God,  the  world  will  then 
look  to  your  conduct  for  a  pattern  of  what  Christianity  is — 
and  you  know  this  will  never  do ;  for  after  all  that  you  can  do, 
you  have  nothing  to  justify  you  in  the  sight  of  God.  You 
might  as  well  buy  the  duds  and  old  clothes  sold  by  the  Jews 
in  the  streets,  and  stand  in  them  before  the  King  of  Great 
Britain,  as  presume  to  appear  before  God  clothed  in  your 
own  righteousness."  His  mind  was  deeply  affected  with  the 
solemnities  of  the  day  of  judgment ;  and  he  inculcated  from 
his  death-bed  what  he  had  taught  from  the  pulpit — that  for 
the  majesty  of  that  scene  there  is  but  one  robe,  for  the  strict- 
ness of  that  trial  there  is  but  one  plea,  and  that  for  the  terrors 
of  that  day  there  is  but  one  hope.  These  counsels  are  most 
judicious,  and,  in  an  age  marked  by  a  fondness  for  religious 
display,  they  are  most  seasonable.  All  admit  that  Dr. 
Waugh  walked  with  God ;  and  let  it  not  be  forgotten  how 
humbly  he  did  so,  and  that  over  his  most  solemn  intercourse 
with  God  he  cast  a  veil  which  no  curiosity  could  induce  him 
to  draw  aside.  In  that  hallowed  enclosure  his  purest  tears  fell, 
and  his  ardent  spirit  cried  out  most  vehemently  for  the  living 
God. 

What  an  interesting  scene  have  we  here  presented  to  us ! 
The  dying  Christian  parent  sealing  with  the  last  sanctions  the 
counsels  and  example  of  a  godly  life ; — his  aged  partner,  his 


HIS    DEATH-BED.  419 

numerous  children,  surrounding  his  death-bed — not  in  gloom 
or  in  dismay,  but  in  cheerful  reciprocity  of  affection  inter- 
changing the  last  offices  of  earthly  intercourse  ; — no  fears  or 
misgivings  on  either  side,  whether  for  time  or  eternity,  for  all 
was  habitually  felt  to  be  built  upon  the  firm  foundation  of 
Gospel  principles. 

Being  asked,  "Have  you  any  doubt  that  your  children  will 
do  their  duty  to  their  dear  mother?"  lie  replied,  "Certainly 
not."  When  asked,  "  Have  you  any  doubt  that  your  children 
will  love  one  another,  and  continue  united  ?"  he  replied,  with 
much  emphasis,  and  a  smile  of  strong  confidence,  "Certainly 
not ;  you  have  too  much  kindness  of  heart  to  permit  me  to 
doubt  this.  Love  each  other,  my  dear  children ;  love  each 
other  very  much  :  seven  is  love,  eight  is  love,  nine  is  love ; 
have  a  multiplication  table  of  love ;  for  all  is  love !"  It 
must  be  painful  to  a  dying  parent  to  have  variances  among 
Ins  children  to  reconcile  at  his  last  hour,  and  injunctions 
to  deliver  which  he  fears  will  not  be  regarded,  but  happy 
is  it  when,  from  the  good  of  the  past,  we  can  anticipate  the 
future. 

Amidst  counsels  of  a  higher  order,  and  pointing  to  eternity 
and  to  heaven,  he  suggested  to  his  children  those  also  which 
might  lead  to  their  worldly  comfort  and  success.  And  let  it 
not  be  thought  that  these  were  unworthy  of  notice  in  such  a 
scene.  If  the  Holy  Spirit  judged  them  deserving  of  a  place  in 
epistles  fraught  with  the  words  of  eternal  life  ;  if  Paul  addressed 
them  to  churches  to  which  he  wrote  while  in  prison  and  in 
bonds,  good  men  may  surely,  when  dying,  call  on  their  rela- 
tives, especially  on  those  of  them  at  a  time  of  life  when  the 
spirit  is  high,  to  cultivate  that  prudence  and  courtesy  which 
have  such  a  happy  influence  in  attracting  and  securing  confi- 
dence and  regard. 

It  was  then  suggested  to  him,  "Father,  you  know  that  John 
and  Margaret  (two  of  his  children  residing  at  Berwick)  are  not 
here  ;  have  you  no  blessing  for  them  ?"  He  said,  "  I  know 
they  are  not  here;  may  God  bless  Margaret,  her  husband, 
child,  and  also  John,  your  dear  brother,  and  give  them  pros- 


420  HIS    DEATH-BED. 

perity — spiritual  prosperity."  From  the  distance  at  which 
they  lived,  and  the  shortness  of  his  illness,  it  was  impossible 
for  them  to  have  seen  him  on  his  death-bed ;  but  they  have 
this  consolation,  that  they  were  near  to  the  heart  of  a  dying 
father,  and  that  God  delights  to  fulfil  from  heaven  the  bless- 
ings invoked  by  the  righteous  on  a  death-bed. 

After  this,  looking  smilingly  round,  he  fixed  his  eyes  on 
his  three  daughters,  and  said,  "  There  stand  my  three  dear 
good  lasses,  who  would  go  through  fire  and  water  for  their 
father  or  mother  ;  and  this  is  no  small  mark  of  grace."  What 
a  delightful  testimony  to  filial  piety — and  from  such  a  father ! 
In  ministering  to  such  men  there  is  a  pleasure  never  felt  in 
any  selfish  indulgence ;  and,  in  this  instance,  how  noble  was 
the  reward  for  its  cares  !  Filial  piety,  excited  not  merely  by 
the  impulse  of  nature,  but  by  the  veneration  of  holy  worth, 
and  manifested  in  the  culture  of  a  parent's  spirit,  in  unwearied 
attention  to  his  comfors,  and  in  uniform  regard  to  his  counsels, 
includes  much  that  is  excellent  as  well  as  amiable ;  and 
though  a  hard  and  selfish  policy  may  frown  on  it,  religion 
recognizes  it  as  the  fifth  of  its  commandments,  and  as 
enforced  in  the  youthful  toils  and  the  last  sufferings  of  its 
Author. 

A  short  time  afterwards,  he  exclaimed,  "  O  !  my  lads,  my 
lads,  work  while  it  is  day,  work  while  you  can ;  for  old  age 
is  dark  and  unlovely."  How  anxious  was  he  to  mingle 
admonition  with  benediction,  and  to  stimulate  as  well  as  to 
solace !  His  period  of  service  on  earth  was  about  to  close — 
theirs  was  opening;  and  though  it  was  more  private  than 
his,  he  felt  that  much  might  and  should  be  done  for  God  in 
it ;  and  how  anxious  was  he  that,  when  they  met  in  another 
world,  he  might  find  them  blessed  with  that  short  but  most 
expressive  and  honorable  eulogy,  that  "  they  had  labored 
much  in  the  Lord."  Long  their  father  labored  for  them, 
and  in  these  labors  for  God  they  will  honor  his  memory 
and  tread  in  his  steps.  "  Old  age  is  dark  and  unlovely"  to 
nature  in  its  infirmities,  and  seclusions,  and  fears,  and  sad 
recollections ;  but  sweet  are  its  counsels  when  they  are  given 


HIS    DEATH-BED.  421 

in  meekness  of  wisdom,  beautiful  is  its  piety  when  devotion 
lifts  the  withering  hand  to  God,  and  charming  is  its  kindness 
when  it  is  seen  glowing  in  the  failing  heart,  and  heard  speaking 
in  its  last  tones. 

Mrs.  AVaugh  having  asked  him  to  bless  his  children,  ho 
raised  his  feeble  arm  and  eye  to  heaven,  and  with  great  ani- 
mation prayed,  "  O  that  Thou  wouldest  rend  those  heavens 
and  come  down,  and  crown  them  all  with  thy  loving-kind- 
ness !"  Such  prayers  have  a  record  in  heaven  and  in  the  hearts 
of  the  young,  and  they  are  the  best  legacy  a  parent  can 
leave. 

Speaking  afterwards  of  the  Christmas  presents  he  had  or- 
dered for  his  grandchildren,  he  said,  with  emphasis,  "  I  have 
six-and-twenty  grandchildren,  and  who  would  not  love  them, 
after  the  Saviour  took  such  in  his  arms,  and  said,  '  Suffer 
little  children  to  come  unto  me  and  forbid  them  not  V " 
The  books  selected  for  them  by  his  care  they  will  value,  as 
sanctioned  in  their  lessons  by  his  approbation,  and  in  their 
precepts  by  his  injunction,  and  as  the  monitors  of  a  piety 
which  from  youth  to  age  had  been  his  consolation  and  his 
guide. 

He  spake  of  his  mother,  and  said,  "If  I  could  see  my 
mother  at  this  moment,  it  would  make  me  leap  for  joy." 
The  feelings  which  the  idea  of  his  grandchildren  had  awakened 
led  him  back  to  his  infancy  ;  and  a  mother's  tenderness  is  the 
charm  of  life's  early  and  liveliest  scenes.  We  have  often  re- 
marked in  the  old  and  feeble  a  tendency  to  dwell  on  the  idea 
of  a  mother's  care  :  the  helplessness  she  cherished  is  brought 
to  their  recollection  by  infirmities  under  which  no  human  aid 
can  strengthen  ;  and  the  voice  of  consolation  is  doubly  sweet 
when  it  soothes  with  a  patience,  a  skill,  and  a  softness  like  hers. 
With  what  rapture  would  he  meet  a  mother  so  revered  and 
loved,  among  the  spirits  of  the  just,  take  up  her  song,  and  bid 
her  join  him  in  his,  saying,  "  O  magnify  the  Lord  with  me, 
and  let  us  exalt  his  name  together  !" 

When  that  hymn  was  repeated  to  him,  "  There  is  a  foun- 
tain filled  with  blood,"   he  remarked,  "  There   are  many  who 


422  HIS   DEATH-BED. 

are  ready  to  take  comfort  from  this  fountain,  but  that  must 
be  done  with  repentance."  He  had  marked  with  pain  the 
abuse  of  the  grace  of  the  Gospel  by  those  who  affect  to  hope 
in  it,  without  feeling  the  least  influence  from  it  to  humble  or  to 
mortify  them ;  and  he  had  often  and  strongly  inculcated  the 
important  truth,  that  the  blood  of  Christ  will  alone  be  valued, 
sought,  and  applied,  by  those  who  have  been  led  to  contrition 
for  their  sins,  and  who  are  as  eager  to  be  freed  from  the  power 
of  sin  as  from  its  miseries  and  its  stains. 

Towards  the  close  of  Thursday,  when  his  mental  and  bodily 
powers  were  drawing  near  to  dissolution,  Mrs.  Waugh  said 
to  him,  "  When  you  are  now  in  the  deep  Jordan,  have  you 
any  doubt  that  Christ  will  be  with  you  ?"  He  replied,  "  Cer- 
tainly not !  who  else  ?  who  else  ?"  All  that  human  kindness 
could  do  had  been  done,  all  that  human  skill  could  suggest  had 
been  employed  ;  but  his  Saviour  was  with  him  in  unabated 
love  and  in  unceasing  aid ;  on  his  arm  he  was  leaning,  in  his 
strength  he  was  advancing,  and  to  him  he  was  crying,  "  Save 
me,  O  God,  for  the  waters  are  come  in  unto  my  soul !"  With 
the  above  testimony  all  his  communication  with  mortals 
closed. 

On  Thursday  evening  about  nine  o'clock  he  fell  into  a  stu- 
por, in  which  he  continued  during  the  whole  of  the  night, — 
his  family  surrounding  his  bed,  and  expecting  his  immediate 
departure.  It  was  now  that,  for  the  first  time,  the  real  extent 
of  the  visitation  that  had  come  to  their  house  was  fully  ap- 
preciated by  all  their  hearts,  until  this  hour  hoping  against 
hope  that  this  sore  bereavement  might  yet,  for  a  little  space, 
be  postponed,  or  so  excited  by  what  was  passing  that  they 
could  scarcely  lower  their  feelings  to  the  littleness  of  mere 
human  grief.  Now 'they  looked  on  the  face  of  their  parent, 
and  upon  each  other,  and  felt  that  Death  was  present  among 
them.  On  Friday  morning,  at  twenty  minutes  before  seven, 
he  opened  his  eyes,  cast  them  round  the  circle  of  his  weeping 
children,  and  bestowing  one  parting  look  of  grateful  recogni- 
tion on  his  aged  partner,  his  spirit  returned  to  his  Father,  and 
to  his  God. 


HIS    DEATH-BIB.  423 

In  order  properly  to  appreciate  the  value  of  the  testimony 
borne  by  Dr.  Waugh  (as  exhibited  in  his  mental  frame  upon 
his  death-bed)  to  the  influence  which  the  Spirit  of  God  had, 
all  his  life  long,  been  exerting,  in  consoling,  purifying,  and 
exalting  his  character,  it  must  ever  be  remembered,  that  his 
mind  had  been  partially  unhinged  by  the  same  sudden  shock 
that  shattered  his  bodily  system  ;  that,  during  much  of  his 
illness,  he  possessed  little,  if  any,  power  over  the  current  of 
his  thoughts;  that  he  was  even  frequently  unconscious  of 
being  heard  by  the  ear,  or  seen  by  the  eye,  of  man,  and  con- 
sequently, on  many  occasions,  a  reference  to  human  opinion 
could  have  no  influence  upon  the  expressions  he  uttered. 
With  the  naked  simplicity  of  a  second  childhood,  in  truth, 
were  the  inmost  recesses  of  his  soul  laid  open  ;  and  it  seemed 
as  if,  ere  his  removal  from  earth,  the  hand  of  his  Father  in 
heaven  had  drawn  aside  the  veil  with  which  his  own  humility 
had  wrapt  up  his  secret  thoughts  and  feelings,  in  order  to  show 
how  pure  and  precious  even  the  corrupt  human  heart  may  be- 
come, when  regenerated  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  stroke  that 
severed  the  hold  possessed  by  his  judgment  over  the  other 
faculties  of  his  mind,  and  let  loose  his  fancy,  either  to  soar  like 
a  dove  towards  heaven,  or  to  grovel  (had  such  been  its  nature) 
like  a  reptile  in  the  mire  of  earthly  cares,  only  served  to  render 
more  brightly  manifest  the  habits  of  a  renewed  soul,  in  which 
the  love  of  Christ  had  long  been  the  ruliug  and  pervading 
principle. 


Seldom  has  a  death  excited  so  general  and  so  strong  a 
sensation.  Dr.  Waugh  was  known  extensively,  and  wherever 
he  was  known  he  was  loved.  The  religious  of  all  parties 
mourned  for  him  as  if  they  had  lost  a  father;  and  in  various 
pulpits  his  character  was  depicted  as  the  man  of  God,  and  his 
loss  deplored  as  that  of  one  who  went  about  doing  good. 

Several  of  the  numerous  philanthropic  and  charitable  insti- 
tutions   which   he    had   during  life  so  zealously  supported,  in- 


424  HIS    FUNERAL. 

serted  in  their  minutes  tributes  of  gratitude  to  his  memory ; 
and,  among  others,  the  London  Missionary  Society,  of  which 
he  had  been  pre-eminently  the  advocate  and  benefactor.  The 
following  resolution  is  extracted  from  the  records  of  this  great 
and  beneficent  association  : 

"  On  the  mournful  information  of  the  decease  of  the  late  Rev. 
Dr.  Waugh  being  communicated  to  the  Directors,  at  their 
meeting  held  on  the  Monday  evening  next  after  the  deeply- 
lamented  event,  the  following  resolution  was  adopted  by  the 
board : — 

"  Resolved  unanimously — That  the  Directors  cannot  but 
contemplate  this  solemn  event  with  deep  emotion,  when  they 
consider  that  the  Rev.  Dr.  Waugh  was  one  of  those  ministers 
who  subscribed  their  names  to  the  Declaration — That  it  was 
their  earnest  desire  to  exert  themselves  for  introducing  the 
Gospel  to  the  heathen  (February  1 7,1*795);  that  he  was 
one  of  a  committee  appointed  to  correspond  with  ministers 
in  the  country,  to  excite  their  attention  to  this  important 
object;  that  he  had  a  prominent  part  in  the  formation  of 
the  plan  of  the  Missionary  Society ;  that  from  its  commence- 
ment he  took  a  lively  and  active  interest  in  all  its  affairs  ; 
that  he  occupied  the  place  of  chairman  of  one  of  the  most 
important  of  its  committees  during  the  period  of  twenty-eight 
years  ;  and  that  in  every  way,  both  in  public  and  private,  he 
labored  to  promote  the  objects  of  the  institution.  While  the 
sanctity  of  his  personal  character,  the  amenity  of  his  manners, 
the  warmth  of  his  affection,  and  the  devoted  ardor  of  his 
zeal,  must  long  live  in  their  grateful  remembrance,  the  Direc- 
tors would  offer  devout  thanksgivings  to  Almighty  God,  for 
having  continued  him  during  so  many  years  to  this  Society, 
and  to  the  church  ;  and  for  having  honored  him  to  be  so  ex- 
tensively useful  even  to  the  end  of  his  course.  With  his  be- 
reaved family  and  congregation  they  most  affectionately  sym- 
pathize, and  earnestly  pray  that  the  great  Head  of  the  church 
would  supply  all  their  need,  according  to  his  riches  in  glory 
by  Christ  Jesus." 

The  funeral  took  place  on  the   2 2d  of  December,  and  was 


FUNERAL    I  BRMOHS.  425 

attended  by  an  assemblage  of   mourners  which,  for  number 

and  respectability,  has  seldom  been  equalled  in  London.  The 
bouse  in  Salisbury-place  being  much  too  small  for  the  recep 
tion  of  the  great  multitude  of  friends  who  wished  to  attend, 
they  were  invited  to  meet  at  the  chapel  of  the  Rev.  J.  Strat- 
ton,  Paddington.  Previous  to  the  procession  commencing, 
the  Rev.  Rowland  Hill  and  the  Rev.  Edward  Irving  offered 
up  each,  an  appropriate  prayer.  The  body  was  then  de- 
posited in  the  hearse,  which  was  preceded  in  its  way  to  Bun- 
hill  Fields  by  thirty-three  of  the  Sunday-school  teachers  and 
juvenile  members  of  his  congregation,  on  foot.  Forty-two 
mourning  coaches  and  thirteen  private  carriages  followed, 
containing  the  family  and  relatives  of  the  deceased,  ministers 
of  all  denominations  (of  whom  the  number  was  very  great), 
the  elders  and  managers  of  his  con grega tion,  and  of  those  of 
Oxendon  and  Albion  Chapels,  a  deputation  from  the  directors 
of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  and  his  numerous  private 
friends.  The  procession  extended  nearly  half  a  mile,  and  an 
immense  concourse  of  persons  followed  the  hearse  to  Bunhill 
Fields.  An  affecting  address  was  delivered  at  the  grave  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Winter,  upon  this  text, — "  Your  fathers,  where 
are  they  ?  and  the  prophets,  do  they  live  forever  V  After 
the  body  had  been  committed  to  the  family  tomb,  to  rest 
beside  the  dust  of  his  beloved  son  Alexander  till  the  great 
"gathering  day,"  an  impressive  and  comprehensive  prayer, 
by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Broadfoot,  concluded  the  funeral  solemnity. 
On  the  following  Sabbath  his  funeral  sermon  was  preached 
in  Wells  Street  Chapel  by  Mr.  Broadfoot,  from  Job,  v.  20, 
— "Thou  shalt  come  to  thy  grave  in  a  full  age,  like  as  a 
shock  of  corn  cometh  in  his  season."  This  excellent  discourse 
was  subsequently  published  at  the  request  of  the  congrega- 
tion, and  is  probably  known  to  the  majority  of  our  readers; 
it  is  enough  to  say  that  it  was  truly  worthy  of  the  solemn 
occasion.  Many  other  sermons  were  preached  in  commemora- 
tion of  the  departed  by  his  brethren  in  and  around  London ; 
and  biographical  sketches  of  his  character  and  public  services 
appeared  in  all  the  religious  periodicals  of  the  day.     His  con- 


426  TRIBUTES    TO    HIS    MEMORY. 

gregation  testified  their  love,  and  veneration,  and  gratitude, 
by  an  affectionate  liberality  which  ought  not  to  pass  unnoticed.* 
They  defrayed  the  entire  expenses  of  his  public  funeral,  claim- 
ing it,  in  the  most  delicate  manner,  "  as  their  privilege ;" 
they  expressed  their  regard  and  sympathy  for  his  widow* 
not  in  words  alone,  but  by  acts  of  singular  kindness  and  gene- 
rosity; and  they  erected  to  his  memory  an  elegant  tablet 
of  marble,  in  Wells  Street  Chapel,  with  the  following  in- 
scription : — 

*  It  ought  also  to  be  recorded,  to  the  honor  of  this  respectable  body 
of  people,  and  as  an  evidence  that  the  labors  of  their  departed  pastor, 
who  was  so  peculiarly  characterized  as  a  peace-maker,  have  not  been 
in  vain,  that,  notwithstanding  much  diversity  of  wishes  and  opinions 
among  them  regarding  the  choice  of  a  successor,  there  has  been  no 
actual  disunion  as  respects  Christian  feeling  or  fellowship :  and  we 
may  venture  to  add,  that  there  will  never  be  any  permanent  disunion, 
if  they  continue  to  follow  with  a  single  eye  the  counsel,  not  of  frail  and 
fallible  man,  but  of  Him  who  hath  said,  "Blessed  are  the  peace- 
makers ;  for  they  shall  be  called  the  children  of  God." 

Note  to  Thied  Edition. — The  present  pastor,  the  Rev.  Robert 
Redpath,  A.  M.,  late  of  Edenshead,  was  inducted  to  the  charge  of  the 
Congregation  of  Wells  Street,  at  the  close  of  the  year  1835. 


o 

h  a 
to  5 


^   o 

4  I" 


5  -< 


M     M     = 

".an 

R 

W    H    « 


B       S       f       ^       ^       » 


W    Q 
K     "4 


O    E    ^    »    S    P 


a  o  s  s 


O  2  K 

3  H  H 

a  S  1 

58    g  M  5 

S  "  2  2 
o 


d  a  a  2  3 


co    53    » 


F   O    «S    a 

o  a  a  h 


W    >q    H    <    a> 

a  g  B  5  ? 

gl  S 


>    g    | 

E   «   o 


5    <    H 


5°  a 

3    H 


3  a 


►  m 


H    H 


3  2  m 

a  ?a  7 

k  a  ^ 

m  °  O 

2  * 


5  3  h  ■  s 


a 


Z    ?    C-    >■    D    H 


S    X  o  i^ 

s  >'l 

IS  i 

«  c 

H    O 

-    I 

3   D 


S  .1 


3      « 


CONCLUSION. 


In  closing  this  memoir,  the  writers  do  not  deem  it  at  all 
requisite  to  subjoin  any  more  particular  delineation  of  Dr. 
Waugh's  character.  Its  features  have  appeared  so  vividly 
in  what  he  did,  and  said,  and  wrote,  as  to  render  any  formal 
eulogy  neither  necessary  nor  desirable.  On  the  heart  of  the 
reader  a  strong  impression  must  have  been  made  of  his  worth, 
and  they  trust  also  of  the  power  of  that  religion  under  whose 
impulse  he  acted.  "With  the  greatest  truth  they  can  assert 
that,  much  as  they  loved  and  venerated  their  lamented  friend, 
their  ideas  of  his  excellence  have  risen  higher,  the  more  they 
studied  his  character,  and  the  more  they  became  acquainted 
with  the  incidents  of  his  life.  They  will  only  call  the  reader 
to  mark  the  rare  combination  of  excellencies  in  Dr.  "Waugh ; 
how  the  zeal  and  the  ardor  of  public  activity  were  blended 
with  all  the  kindness  that  blesses  in  friendship,  and  all  the 
suavity  which  charms  in  domestic  life ;  how  the  solemnity  and 
awe  of  devotion  were  enhanced,  not  degraded,  by  the  delight- 
ful pleasantry  with  which  he  could  enliven  conversation  ;  and 
how  his  supreme  love  to  God  showe4  itself  in  a  pure  and  gen- 
erous love  to  man. 

The  reader  must  also  be  struck  with  the  wisdom  of  Provi- 
dence, in  bringing,  to  a  sphere  of  such  utility,  a  man  so  admi- 
rably fitted  to  adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  our  Saviour.  When 
the  period  for  the  formation  of  those  institutions  which  are  the 
glory  of  our  times  had  arrived,  he  was  found  ready  to  spread 
the  flame  and  to  stimulate  and  guide  the  course  of  holy 
charity. 

In  looking  at  those  labors  in  which  he  was  so  abundant, 
some  may  suppose  that  by  them  his  strength  and  spirits 
must  have  been  exhausted  ;    but  so  far  was  this  from  being 


CONCLUSION.  42U 

the  case,  that  he  used  to  say  the  missionary  cause  gave  a  most 
happy  excitement  to  his  mind,  and  such  activity  to  his  life  as 
contributed  not  only  to  prolong  but  to  bless  it. 

It  may  be  thought  by  some  that  it  has  been  our  wish  to 
exhibit  before  the  reader  a  faultless  character,  and  to  represent 
him  as  free  from  the  imperfections  which  cleave  to  the  best  in 
this  scene  of  mortality.  But  he  was  far  from  thinking  highly 
or  favorably  of  himself;  and.  as  the  apostle  Paul  did,  in  closing 
a  life  devoted  above  that  of  all  others  to  the  glory  of  God,  ho 
felt,  the  older  he  grew,  the  more  deeply  his  need  of  the  Sa- 
viour. While  such  were  his  humble  impressions  of  hifhself, 
it  will,  however,  be  admitted  by  all  who  knew  him,  that  there 
have  been  few  in  whom  his  fellow-creatures  could  see  so 
little  to  be  regretted.  It  has  been  said  that  lie  was  soft 
when  firmness,  nay,  severity,  wore  imperiously  required,  and 
that  he  was  more  liberal  in  praise  on  some  occasions  than 
was  due ;  but  where  this  may  have  been  the  case,  it  arose 
from  the  uncommon  kindliness  of  his  spirit :  and  what  good 
man  is  there  who  would  not  rather  err  in  this  way  with  him, 
than  in  the  harshness  of  the  cynic,  or  the  detraction  of  the 
censorious  ? 

We  are  awrare,  too,  that  men  devoted  to  elaborate  study  may 
feel  little  complacency  in  a  life  so  engrossed  with  public  avoca- 
tions ;  and  we  admit  that,  to  men  of  inferior  talents,  and  to 
persons  placed  in  other  circumstances,  more  retirement  for 
mental  culture,  and  more  preparation  for  official  duty  would 
have  been  indispensable ;  but  he  had  facilities  for  the  pulpit, 
possessed  by  few,  and  of  the  stores  of  a  well-improved  youth 
he  could  readily  avail  himself.  Closer  study  might  have 
rendered  his  discourses  more  rich  and  regular,  but  it  may  be 
doubted  if  they  would  have  been  as  striking  as  they  often 
were,  by  the  kindling  of  his  mind,  and  his  happy  use  of  occur- 
rences for  illustrating  and  enforcing  the  counsels  of  wis- 
dom. If  the  value  of  a  life  is  to  be  estimated  by  its  utility, 
few  lives  have  been  of  as  much  importance  as  his;  and  if  it 
has  left  few  memorials  for  the  library,  it  has  left  many  for 
the  heart. 


430  CONCLUSION. 

It  would  be  improper  to  close  this  work  without  leading 
the  reader  to  that  grace  from  which  all  that  is  truly  estimable 
in  character  proceeds,  and  by  which  such  varied  excellence 
was  produced  and  cherished.  We  claim  it  for  the  honor  of 
Christianity,  that  in  its  principles  was  the  life  of  his  spirit, 
in  its  examples  the  model  of  his  temper  and  manners,  in  its 
motives  the  impulse  of  his  charity,  and  in  its  hopes  the 
solace  of  his  life  and  of  his  death.  A  more  appropriate  finish 
to  this  memoir  there  cannot  be  than  in  these  words  of  the 
apostle,  descriptive  of  that  devotedness.  to  God  which  the 
Gospel  alone  can  form,  in  which  he  and  his  brethren  lived 
and  died,  in  which  they  were  followed  in  so  eminent  a  de- 
gree by  Dr.  Waugh,  and  in  which  all  who  aspire  after  what 
is  noble  and  generous  in  character  will  copy  them  : — "  None 
of  us  liveth  to  himself,  aud  no  man  dieth  to  himself.  For 
whether  we  live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord  :  and  whether  we  die, 
we  die  unto  the  Lord :  whether  we  live,  therefore,  or  die,  we 
are  the  Lord's." 


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7r> 


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